Advise the user of what they require before they start filling in the form.
Provide users with as much information as possible about what you are asking for and why.
For less intuitive data items (e.g. account numbers) give examples of format and where the information may be found (e.g. your Student number is on your Bodleian Card)
Indicate which fields are mandatory or optional
- This will reduce unnecessary error messaging
- Only ask for the information you absolutely need
- Ensure mandatory fields are also flagged as required in the code to support accessibility
- If most fields are mandatory, it's more efficient to only mark optional fields.
- If there’s a mixture of mandatory and optional field types the asterisk (*) should be used to indicate mandatory.
