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Form Fill Progress Indicators

Especially on smaller touch screens, forms may exceed the dialog’s height. In that case, users may lose overview if the form’s validation requirements have been fulfilled and which are still pending.

Context

Many forms require fields to be filled in. Given the virtual keyboard and a set of mandatory and optional fields it may become difficult for users to keep an overview of what fields have already been filled in and which still need to be completed.

Forces

When using the form fill progress indicator pattern it must be clear how many steps are left to complete the form.

Solution

The example screenshot shows the form fill progress indicator used to indicate the number of empty mandatory fields; however, other validation criteria could be used.

The progress indicator should be displayed in a separate area, which is always visible and not disrupt the workflow.

This pattern should be used only if not all fields of a dialog or a form are visible when the virtual keyboard is displayed.

Usability Impact

Error prevention, error recovery

Safety Impact

The progress indicator helps to avoid unnecessary steps and enables them to return to tasks of higher priority. Because form entry most likely is not safety-relevant, it must not interfere with safety-critical functionality.

Your opinion!

Feel free to provide your comments, reports of usage of this pattern, or feedback in general!

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