Elaine Fath Blog #8

Prevent and Catch Errors with Poka-yoke Devices:

There's a really cool feature when creating forms where, if I am trying to insert a new element but am just clicking "new element," the buttons on the left will shake to "get my attention" and notify me that these are my options.


Ditch Anything Modal:
This application sort of gets away from this by showing a modal warning message when you try to navigate away from a page without saving. It could be argued, however, that if the choice is between losing all content and putting up with a modal element, possibly something modal is a better choice.

Write Error Messages That Help Instead of Hurt:

All of the error messages I encountered were very helpful--the signup form, in particular, not only stated helpful things like "Your subdomain can only consist of letters and numbers." (easy, quick, to the point!) But it also highlighted the "problem" area so I can easily go back through and correct.

Also, as I was clicking around before I had a form, all pages told me what steps I needed to take before having the ability to utilize the more advanced features ("You need a form before you can make a report!")

Create Forgiving Software:

Obviously, the nature of Wufoo is such that no one mistake will bring down the entirety of your work. Just because I flub one sign-up attempt doesn't prevent me from trying again. If I make a mistake on a form, I can always go back and redo just that single element instead of the whole form.