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Journal

Fleeting thoughts, evergreen articles, and links to intersting stuff from around the web. And it’s all here all in one convenient chronological list. You can also browse by topic if you’re looking for something speciific.

Recently

Usable Form Validation

Today’s error messages are a huge improvement of the error messages of latter years, however they still have a long way to go. I’ve put together the following list of the most common problems with error messages. Disclaimer: You should always use both…

Make Footers Usable

If people scroll to the bottom of a page, shouldn’t we provide useful links and content to help them decide where to go next?

Instructions not Needed

If it needs instructions or you have to explain it, there’s room for improvement.

Don't Use 'Clear' or 'Reset' Buttons

The vast majority of cases where forms offer a button to reset the form would be better off foregoing the button entirely.

Clearly Label Those Buttons

I was thinking today and realized just how many different conversations I’ve had with people about buttons. What should the text be? Where should they be placed? Should they be regular HTML buttons or images? What about reset buttons? We’ll start with…