32/365 : Designing Forms

 As I stated before, forms are among the most vital ways for users to interact with a website or app. How can they be designed well? One principle is to put the simple forms first, with more complex later. Ask a user for something simple like their name first,  then later get the address or credit card number. Once the user has put in their name, they feel committed and are more likely to compete the forms in its entirety. Furthermore, it is important to give the user an indicator of progress. When they know how many steps are required, and where they are in the process,  the forms become less intimidating and cumbersome. The Amazon checkout process masters this. Buying a product is a complicated process involving checking out the cart, submitting an address, choosing shipping, and entering a payment method. Imagine if all these forms were on a single page in one ugly block. Instead, the front-end, masters at Amazon have designed their checkout process so the whole thing feels smooth and easy despite the large amount of data required from the user.