Have you ever entered information into a form on the web and the page has to go to the server for every line? The wait is forever. It slows things down.
This is versus a form that does not take a long wait but might have to have a long time for setting up.
When you are creating a web site that involves inputting a form, you really have to think about the user experience. This experience will dictate their reaction and whether they say nice things or bad things about your web site.
Plenty of effort is made to make a site cool, provide interesting videos, or even games. However, not enough effort seems to be done on the form entry. I see this especially so on corporate web sites, which are typically not there to entertain, but there to provide functionality.
What I find useful are the following rules:
1. Keep it simple.
2. Minimize page reloads.
3. Use Javascript because it does not rely on the internet connection. I know people are worried about security, but quite frankly if you have a serious web site, that wants to get things done quickly Javascript is incredibly functional. There are some really advanced Javascript methods that allow you to manipulate tables, and data on the screen.
4. Use AJax which allows you to access the server real-time and not have to do page reloads.
5. Test with potential customers and learn how they interact with your system. User experience is key to making a successful web site design. Seems obvious, but too many corporations forget about this.
In a nutshell, poorly designed forms are one of the worst ways to ruin a web experience, and reduce customers. Why? They go somewhere else. Time spent on designing a good form and improving the user experience will improve the overall usage of your site.
