Check how they do it on http://wufoo.com/ - a popular form builder.
Kevin On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 12:42 AM, Jukka K. Korpela <jkorp...@cs.tut.fi>wrote: > 15.9.2011 6:29, Dark Phoenix wrote: > > I want to be able to add hints to any form elements that may >> need them, and have them only show up when they're needed (using some sort >> of hover mechanism). >> > > That's an interesting and important issue but largely outside the scope of > CSS. Or, rather, just a part of it is CSS, and the design issue and other > implementation issues need to be solved first, before the CSS aspects can be > discussed. In design, CSS considerations may be important, because the > impossibility or difficulty of doing some things in CSS may affect the > design choices. But I don't think that's the case here. > > > I do know that I'm going to indicate errors with a >> popup on the right side of the form element (that shows up when the >> element >> is focused or the error icon which will appear on the right side of the >> field is hovered), so I'm not sure if putting the information indicator to >> the right of the element is the right move. >> > > Well that's a design issue too, but styling may help: if you use the same > notification area for both status information and error messages, you could > style it differently depending on contents. For example, error messages with > red borders and yellow background. > > Instead of popup, it has become more common to use information areas that > become visible or change content as controlled by JavaScript and CSS. > (Popups may annoy people, may get blocked etc.) Yet another possibility is > to use <iframe> for them, as that way things can work without JavaScript. > > I don't want to start a discussion on such design issues in this list - > just mention a few of alternatives, to illustrate why it's too early to > discuss CSS aspects - the different approaches have rather different CSS > implications. > > -- > Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~**jkorpela/ <http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/> > > ______________________________**______________________________**__________ > css-discuss [css-d@lists.css-discuss.org] > http://www.css-discuss.org/**mailman/listinfo/css-d<http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d> > List wiki/FAQ -- > http://css-discuss.incutio.**com/<http://css-discuss.incutio.com/> > List policies -- > http://css-discuss.org/**policies.html<http://css-discuss.org/policies.html> > Supported by evolt.org -- > http://www.evolt.org/help_**support_evolt/<http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/> > ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [css-d@lists.css-discuss.org] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ List policies -- http://css-discuss.org/policies.html Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
