As developers we can sometimes overlook ease of use when creating forms. We typically focus on functionality more so than end-user experience and that can leave users frustrated. Site Reference has come up with a great list of tips to help remind us of the different ways we can keep forms functional and easy to use.
Here are a few highlights that should be mandatory on any form:
- Never ask for duplicate information - For example, any forms that require a billing and shipping address should have the option of allowing the user to simply click a checkbox that will auto-populate the duplicate fields, if the information is the same.
- Make sure that mandatory fields are clearly marked - This seems like a no-brainer but nothing is more frustrating for the user than continually being returned back to the form to fill in required fields. Which brings us to number three:
- Return relevant error messages - an error message that might make sense to you as a developer may not be clear enough for the end-user. Remember, they aren’t sitting in front of a computer creating forms all day and may not be familiar with the type of information you are looking for.
- Have your form tested out by real users before releasing it - I’ve certainly run into the scenario in the past where I’ve created a form, tested it and everything seemed fine. It wasn’t until I opened up the testing where I received feedback indicating that the form progression didn’t really make sense.
Read the rest of the article here.
As a developer in the fast paced world of IT, one always has to remember that to be a successful developer you must make sure you spend time living life out of the office. Most developers love spending time on computers working through difficult ideas and trying out new technologies. This is a great asset to have in the IT industry that is constantly evolving and changing. Unfortunately all to often people in the IT industry, and developers in particular forget how important life outside of work is to their overall health and productivity at the office. If you work twelve hours a day instead of ten hours a day, you’re not necessarily getting anymore work done. You may also be unbalancing your life by spending too much time at the office. Instead of spending all your extra time at the office, find the happy balance between life and work. If you’re happy in life, your work will be of better quality and you will be more efficient at the office as you won’t be burning yourself out. Often scaling back the overtime a little bit will allow you to get more work done in less time. Your employer is going to notice that you’re happier at the office. You’re working smarter, more efficiently and spending more time with friends and family. Keeping life and work balanced can go along way to ensuring you’re not burning yourself out every couple of months or years.
It’s a win-win situation.
This video has been circulating for some time online. It’s amazing and everyone should have a quick look at this video to see what Web2.0 means to us.
The Machine is Us/ing Us
You can download a high quality version at: http://www.mediafire.com/?6duzg3zioyd
Some terminology used in the video:
AJAX= Asynchronous Javascript and XML
BLOG= an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page;
An unexpected error in Visual Studio 2005:
Could not load file or assembly ‘App_Web_*******, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
To resolve this problem make a change to the file initiating the error, then save the file. For example, add a several characters - save - remove the characters and save again. Now when you refresh the page everything should work properly.
Unfortunately this error seems to occur for no known reason.
A List Apart has created a web-survey to try to get a handle on how workers are distributed through the web design and development community. I think this is a valuable asset to our industry and would encourage all those who work in the industry to respond. Plus, you could win an iPod.
Link to the survey: http://alistapart.com/articles/webdesignsurvey
Microsoft has launched their re-branded rich internet application (RIA), Microsoft Silverlight, in direct competition with Adobe Flash. Considering Adobe’s current domination of the marketplace it will be interesting to see what type of an impact Silverlight is able to make; while it’s a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in, Linux and Apple users will be more apt to take a pass on installing the plug-in then the already ubiquitous Flash. Competition in this market is always welcome and we look forward to seeing how the market for RIA will continue to evolve. More information is available on Read/Write Web.
1. Keep it Simple
This may sound obvious but if you find yourself using complicated coding to achieve your design then you should think again about whether the feature you need is really necessary or if you’re just thinking about your design and not your visitors. Too often designers get caught up in their own design and go to great lengths to produce a certain visual effect only to find later on that visitors find it either irritating or unusable.
Read the rest here.
For Firefox fans 
the Web Developer toolbar provides a handful of useful tools for developing and troubleshooting web pages. View, edit and modify CSS styles while watching your page update on the fly. Use the outline tool to show the structure of divs and block level elements. Validate pages with any number of web standards and compliance measures. Ruler, magnifier, guides, cookie management are only a few of the many tools provided in this essential development tool.
Microsoft also supplies a web developer toolbar for IE that you can find here.
A List Apart is an excellent source for articles dealing with the intricacies of code semantics, content, design as well as the culture of web life. A perfect combination of layout and markup.
www.alistapart.com
Can’t say enough about Firebug when it comes to developing websites. CSS finally became fun to use, Javascript throws meaningful errors. No web developer can be without Firebug.
Get Firebug here.
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