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Re: Form validation on blur or on form submission

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From: Swift, Daniel P.
Date: Jun 6, 2018 7:04AM

Steve:

A number of years ago we did some research on forms. In general, the shorter the forms, the better. I believe that we discovered that label on top of field was better, but we still use them next to each other to lessen the scrolling. On mobile and magnification, this changes to a single column of labels and fields.

We also do on-blur validation with validation occurring server-side in case JS is disabled and for sanitation. Even though I'm a technical person, I can speak on a non-technical level -- I've filled out many forms and find it incredibly frustration when an error is returned after post-back. The site owner gets extra fist-shaking if they've also cleared out part of the form as that invariably leads to a second submission complete with a second error.

Hope that helps!

Dan Swift
Senior Web Specialist
Enterprise Services
West Chester University
610.738.0589

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Steve Green
Sent: Wednesday, June 6, 2018 4:58 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Form validation on blur or on form submission

Has anyone done any user testing to see whether people have a preference for form validation on blur or on form submission? I'm particularly interested in the results of testing with real non-technical users who are representative of the general public.

Also, did you identify any factors that affect these results, such as the length or layout of the form or whether the number of errors makes a difference?

I would have thought that the choice of validation approach is particularly relevant for screen reader and magnifier users, but did any other user groups have a preference for one approach or the other?

Regards,
Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd
020 3002 4176 (direct)
0800 612 2780 (switchboard)
07957 246 276 (mobile)
020 7692 5517 (fax)
Skype: testpartners
<EMAIL REMOVED>
www.testpartners.co.uk
 
Connect to me on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/stevegreen2