[Patternfly] UXD Team - Thoughts on multi column forms

[Matt Carrano]

In general I agree with what's been said about multi-column forms and think
they should be avoided in most cases.  However, I do think there are
situations where placing fields adjacent to each other in a horizontal row
makes sense - first name, last name or city, zip would be two examples as
cited.

SJ, my problem with the layout examples you provided is that in the first
one, it feels like the columns are very disjoint, so even thought you've
placed First Name and Last Name side by side, I don't see them as related
when I glance at this.  In the second example, I would probably opt for
some pre-selection of new or returning user and display a single form
rather than present 2 forms side-by-side.

So for me, the question may be less about whether we should support
multi-column forms (in general, I think we shouldn't) and more about when
it is appropriate to place 2 or more fields in the same row and how we
should handle labeling in that case.

Matt

On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 2:44 AM, SJ Cox <sjcox at redhat.com> wrote:

> Hello UXD and PatternFly community,
>
> Would love to get your input on when, if ever, multi-column forms are okay.
>
> This sprint the PatternFly team is working on the conceptual design for
> multi column forms.  In the case of multi column forms, it’s mostly best
> practice to avoid their use. The main problem is that using multiple
> columns within forms could cause the potential for users to interpret the
> fields inconsistently.
>
> However, there are a couple exceptions that seem to be acceptable.
>
> - The main exception for using multi-column forms that cause the least
> amount of confusion were strictly for name and address fields.
>
>
>
> - The second exception is when there are two different form choices.  User
> must choose to fill out one or the other.  In this case, when the forms
> fields are shown next to each other in a multi column format, there is
> little confusion as long as the distinction of the two form choices are
> clear.
>
>
>
> Would love to hear your thoughts and input on this topic.  Are there any
> other scenarios that are acceptable?  Do you agree with the conclusion?
>
> Thank you!!
> SJ
>
> *Sarah Jane Cox*
> User Interaction Designer
> User Experience Design Team
>
> Red Hat, Inc.
> <http://www.redhat.com/about/whoisredhat/redhatstories.html?intcmp=70160000000TB9vAAG&>
>
>


-- 
Matt Carrano
Sr. Interaction Designer
Red Hat, Inc.
mcarrano at redhat.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/patternfly/attachments/20160923/5e583910/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Screen Shot 2016-09-22 at 11.23.59 PM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20267 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/patternfly/attachments/20160923/5e583910/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Screen Shot 2016-09-22 at 11.06.08 PM.png
Type: image/png
Size: 20063 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listman.redhat.com/archives/patternfly/attachments/20160923/5e583910/attachment-0001.png>