Re: Text entry box with a single underline...

Hi Alistair,

Seems like 1.4.3 could also be failing with red on black, but that doesn't
address your issue directly.

Regardless of this pattern becoming 'more common' have they actually done
any usability testing with the range of users in the target audience? Many
usability folk, including Caroline Jarrett [1] and the Nielsen Norman Group
[2], recommend against placeholder text.

Andrew

[1]
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/03/dont-put-hints-inside-text-boxes-in-web-forms.php

[2] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/form-design-placeholders/

On 25 May 2016 at 20:45, Alistair Garrison <alistair.j.garrison@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> I've been asked a question about text entry box styling, but I thought I'd
> also try and gain some wider input.
>
> If effect, the developer wants to use a text entry box.  In isolation, the
> background in the text entry box is black, the view it sits in is black,
> and the box only has a single red border running along the bottom.  The
> label is above the box.
>
> In my opinion, the created text entry area is difficult for all users to
> immediately perceive as a text entry area; simple not seeing it as a text
> entry area.  In this configuration I've been thinking that 1.4.1 Use of
> Color would be failed, due to the single red line being used as the only
> indication that it is a text entry area, but surely there must be further
> Success Criteria that are failed?
>
> The developers have offered-up putting placeholder text in the box, but to
> my mind this looks like an underlined heading - which again isn't great.
>
> The developers are indicating that this design pattern is becoming more
> and more common.
>
> The question is then - are there any SC's or Failure Conditions I have
> missed that would rule out styling a text area in this manner?  If not,
> should there be?
>
> Very best regards
>
> Alistair
>
> Alistair Garrison
>



-- 
Andrew Arch
  Canberra, Australia

“Man does not cease to play because he grows old.
    Man grows old because he ceases to play.”
George Bernard Shaw