forms usability

Reading some research on the usability of web-based forms. I was interested to learn that having the form labels right-justified so that they appear right before the entry box is dramatically more effective than the format many people are used to from the "old days", which is left justified text, followed by enough space so that the form entries were all lined up.

The article says that placing the labels above the entry boxes was better yet. I think that is good advice for short forms, but I suspect for longer forms it would still be preferable to have the labels to the left (right justified) of the box, because then the page will not seem as long.

Other interesting findings:

"Bold labels—Reading bold labels is a little bit more difficult for users, so it’s preferable to use plain text labels. However, when using bold labels, you might want to style the input fields not to have heavy borders.

Drop-down list boxes—Use them with care, because they’re so eye-catching. Either use them for important data or, when using them for less important data, place them well below more important input fields.

Label placement for drop-down list boxes—To ensure users are immediately aware of what you’re asking for, instead of using a separate label, make the default value for a drop-down list box the label. This will work for very long lists of items, because a user already has the purpose of the input field in mind before the default value disappears."