[Patternfly] UXD Team - Thoughts on multi column forms

[Liz Clayton]

Hi,

On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 9:30 AM, Matt Carrano <mcarrano at redhat.com> wrote:

> 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.
>

I haven't read all the threads, but I'm also in the camp of avoiding
multi-column forms in most cases.

S.J. - You might want to check in with Joe, I know he looked into this when
he was doing the Forms discovery story. And the following article offers
some helpful info on this topic as well:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/web-form-design/

Best,
Liz


>
> 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
>
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