I'm very late coming to the party, my apologies...
That said, we recently did similar prototype testing on several
search forms with a mixture of required and optional fields. On the
team we were split on the best approach, so we tried to distinct
methods: one with optional spelled out, the other with those fields
having a different visual indicator. Though the sample size was
limited, the "Optional" won hands-down. Remarkably, some
participants even commented on how much they liked that it said
"optional right there".
I know our UI team was not thrilled, but it was extremely
advantageous to spell it out rather than use an icon or other visual
indicators.
Hope this helps,
Erin
erin walsh | product developer | For Rent Media Solutions™
150 granby street, 16th floor | norfolk, va 23510
p:757.351.8444 | f:757.961.4827
[EMAIL PROTECTED]| www.FRMediaSolutions.com
You Have Multiple Marketing Needs... We Have Multiple Solutions!
On Jul 14, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Marty DeAngelo wrote:
Caroline,
We weren't thinking about using the asterisk to indicate the optional
fields - we were considering either having the big "(Optional)" after
the legend or maybe an alternate icon (I was leaning against that
because who knows what an 'field optional' icon looks like?).
My concern is that if 9 out of 10 items are required, then those 9 red
asterisks create more noise in the form. I would rather try to call out
the ONE field which isn't required but necessary to include, such as Apt
# or Suite #.
Make sense?
-----Original Message-----
From: Caroline Jarrett [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2008 1:15 PM
To: Marty DeAngelo; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Marking Required vs. Optional form fields
After reading Luke Wroblewski's book,
"Web Form Design: Filling In the Blanks",
I have to agree with his sentiment about
indicating the MINORITY of the form elements:
This is one of very few (and possibly, the only) point where I
disagree with Luke. And perhaps, I don't even completely disagree.
My experience has been that very few users pay any attention to the
required field markers. Those who do tend to be highly internet-savvy,
and they also tend to look first of all to see where the asterisks
are.
best,
Caroline Jarrett
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