Testing forms is especially important. Everyone who has so much as opened a browser has
encountered poorly implemented forms, each time cursing the company, its developer,
and its faulty QA process. There are many reasons why people stumble so badly when it
comes to these things:
The form is poorly designed: Even the most complex forms??”with all manner of
drop-downs, radio buttons, text fields, and more??”can be usable if they are
designed well. Confusing forms are usually a result of two things: bad graphic
design (inconsistent placement, no visual hierarchy, etc.), and poor direction
(ambiguous labels, badly titled buttons).
The form does not work: Whatever script aggregates the data and sends it on to
the database or e-mail system fails to work. This may be because of altered server
environments (like an upgrade to a new version of PHP, Perl, or other language), a
corrupt database, or just a poorly written slab of code that works about as well as
a car without an ignition.
The form is inaccessible: Users trying to access the form on alternate viewing
devices or with a disability are unintentionally hindered by poor HTML markup or
inconsiderate design.
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