Can You Even Make A Good HTML Form Anymore?

HTML forms have always been a secret little enjoyment of mine. While many user interface designers die a little inside every time they have to turn 300 questions into a simple two-step online form, I relish the opportunity. Just like listening to Celine Dion or doing Boxercise, I don’t often make this passion known, fearing the outcome of such knowledge. However, whenever someone says something about HTML forms, no matter how offhand, I lock it away in my head hoping it will help me build the ultimate form.

So recently one of our creative leads dropped in conversation ‘...can you even make a good HTML form anymore?’ It got me thinking...

I know the ‘flexibility’ of browser-styled form elements often cause creative designers worlds of pain. Text fields can be nice and pretty and consistently changed across the major browsers, but eventually someone has to have a radio button on the page, or a check box. All of a sudden the nice pretty form is out the window.

So while everyone sits and complains about the ‘flexibility’ of HTML forms elements, I decided to think about the benefits. Firstly, although the radio button might cause the creative team grief, from a user’s perspective, EVERYBODY knows what a browser-styled radio button is. It’s instantly recognisable. They know what it is and how it works.  They know because they’ve seen hundreds and thousands. So from a user’s perspective, I see this as a strength. I see the ‘flexibility’ of HTML form elements as a strength.

I hope that when users see a radio button on a page, generally speaking, they know what it does and they know what’s going to happen to the other radio buttons around it if they click it. I like the idea of experimenting with the look and feel of forms, just as long as we make sure users still know what they’re looking at.

With the example of radio buttons, we need to remember that users have seen radio buttons look a certain way 99% of their Internet life. Changing that look could cause confusion, no matter how big, pretty and shaded it now looks.

HTML 5 is definitely around the corner, but we know it’s still going to include all the same old form elements, it has too. We’re stuck with them, we always will be. Browser-styled radio buttons will be on web pages for years to come.

The HTML 4 elements can still make great forms, it’s just up to us to put them in the right place, ask the user the right questions and align everything as best we can.