Forms - Do you indicate which fields are required and validate them?
Updated by Brady Stroud [SSW] 1 year ago. See history
❌ Figure: Bad example - No visual indication for required fields when a user first sees the form
A designer will know the best way to indicate required field depending on the layout. However if you are in doubt and don’t have a designer around, a red asterisk is definitely the best option.
✅ Figure: Good Example - A visual indication of what fields are required (use a red asterisk if you are not a designer)
More information on ASP.NET implementation
You should combine these visual indicators with appropriate client and server side validators to make sure that your data conforms to business requirements. Adding a RequiredFieldValidator to the above textboxes gives you data validity check with minimal coding.
<asp:Textbox runat="Server" ID="email" />
❌ Figure: Figure: Bad example - No validator used, so the user won't know the email is required
<asp:Textbox runat="Server" ID="email"/><asp:RequiredFieldValidator runat="Server" ControlToValidate="email" ErrorMessage="Please enter an email address"ID="emailReqValidator" />
✅ Figure: Figure: Good example - An ASP.NET validator in use, to indicate the fields required
Note: For ASP.NET Dynamic Data although validation is done differently (under the covers it is using a field template + the ASP.NET validator).
Acknowledgements
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