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Re: Focus for error messages

for

From: tedd
Date: Apr 19, 2007 3:50PM

At 9:30 PM +0100 4/19/07, Emma Duke-Williams wrote:
>On 19/04/07, Rich Pedley < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
>> Looks good, but could perhaps be improved. Currently on an error the
>> link provided goes directly to the input, Where as it would be better
>> going to the label. This may not be the best for accessibility, but
>> usability wise I feel it is better. *I* get confused when the label
>> for the relevant input isn't on the screen!!
>
>What's even worse, is when it tells you there's an error with the
>form, but not where, or, it tells you where, but you can't figure out
>what the error is ...
>My surname sometimes triggers errors. Some sites don't like
>double-barrelled names; other sites just give errors with no apparent
>reason & the only way I've got round it is moving from Firefox to IE,
>entering the *same* data - and it works.
>Grrrr...
>
>Emma
>(and don't talk to me about flight booking forms that when you want to
>change one detail, promptly forget everything you just told it.)

Three things:

First, my experience with FF is that the javascript has to be correct
whereas IE is a bit more forgiving.

Second, what you report about forms not remembering what you typed is
just poor form (pardon the pun). It's not hard to make forms sticky
(keep values), it just takes someone who knows what they're doing.

Third, likewise, to focus on the error and inform the user should not
be a problem -- this isn't rocket science. This is doable.

Cheers,

tedd

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