Thread by @vponamariov

Form validation is cool.

But have you tried to help users fill the form without errors?

🧵Here are a few tips on how you can do that

1. Reduce the number of inputs.

The less the user has to input, the less probability they'll make an error.

2. Auto-fill the data you can auto-fill

- Try to guess the user location, language, country etc.
- Put the current date/time if it's reasonable
- Save what the user has previously inputted

3. Put the most frequent options first

If you have a dropdown or something, and in 90% of cases users select the same value, you can put it on the top.

E.g. if it's a country.

4. Use masks!

For such stuff as credit card data or phone number use masks so that the user can only input what he should input

5. Limit the number of choices

The less choice the user has, the better. But. It should be reasonable of course.

For example, you have a tweet schedule form. Hide the past date/time. You cannot schedule for the past, right @Twitter

6. Visually show how long the content should be

If it's a zip code, don't make it 999px or a textarea. Input width gives users a clue of the size of the content they should input.