RE: Web Forms: Usability and Accessibility Question.

> 
> > I put the following paragraph at the top of the web page: 
> "All fields 
> > are required except those identified as optional."
> > 
> > Then for an optional field, I add the word "optional" surrounded by 
> > parenthesis in the label, like this:
> > 
> > <label for="id">Age (optional)</label>...
> 
>   Simple, clean, functional, and accessible. I like.

There was a discussion about the best way to indicate mandatory and optional
fields on a usability list some time ago. I don't have references but the
concensus was that indicating optional fields instead of required or
mandatory fields is significantly less usable than the other way round. Of
course it does depend on specific context so there are exceptions.  
 
Jon

Received on Wednesday, 4 February 2004 10:43:50 UTC