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Thread: Labels for phone number fields
Number of posts in this thread: 3 (In chronological order)
From: Keith Parks
Date: Tue, Sep 04 2007 1:00PM
Subject: Labels for phone number fields
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Hi folks.
I'm wondering what the standard practice is for labeling phone number
inputs?
The form is set up with three text input fields. Visually it looks
like this (using brackets to indicate the text input fields)
Phone number
([ ]) [ ]-[ ]
My inclination is to use "hidden" labels (css-positioned off-screen)
with one for each field. But I'm not sure what to call the last field.
"area code", "prefix", and "what?"
I've never heard "suffix" used to describe the last four digits in
"conversational" language, but this seems to be the technical term.
(this is for US-format phone numbers)
Thoughts?
TIA,
Keith
******************************
Keith Parks
Graphic Designer/Web Designer
Student Affairs Communications Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7444
(619) 594-1046
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.sa.sdsu.edu/communications
http://kparks.deviantart.com/gallery
----------------------------------------------------------
A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, served with a side of
slaw.
From: Jared Smith
Date: Tue, Sep 04 2007 1:10PM
Subject: Re: Labels for phone number fields
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On 9/4/07, Keith Parks < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Hi folks.
>
> I'm wondering what the standard practice is for labeling phone number
> inputs?
I've seen "telephone number area code", "first three digits of
telephone number", and "last four digits of telephone number". Of
course, this won't work with international numbers, but neither does
your form. You'd also need additional info, such as a field set to
better clarify
To really answer your questions, the standard practice is to use one
text box instead of three. Doing so would certainly make everything
easier for the user and much more accessible. If it's an issue of
formatting, the burden shouldn't be put on the end user to do
something that should be done on the back end (simply strip out
anything that is not a number, then reformat into whatever form you
want).
Jared Smith
WebAIM
From: Christian Heilmann
Date: Tue, Sep 04 2007 3:10PM
Subject: Re: Labels for phone number fields
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> To really answer your questions, the standard practice is to use one
> text box instead of three. Doing so would certainly make everything
> easier for the user and much more accessible. If it's an issue of
> formatting, the burden shouldn't be put on the end user to do
> something that should be done on the back end (simply strip out
> anything that is not a number, then reformat into whatever form you
> want).
^ this
*applauds*
--
Chris Heilmann
Book: http://www.beginningjavascript.com
Blog: http://www.wait-till-i.com
Writing: http://icant.co.uk/