Zoran Svetlicic wrote:

> >3. How should mandatory fields be highlighted?
> Maybe a different color with a message on top saying something like "Fields
> that are labeled red are mandatory).  Another way may be using a different
> BGCOLOR in a table cell.

Ergonomic guidelines for use of color say to use color only as a redundant
coding mechanism and use an additional means of coding the same information.
I have seen forms where the labels of mandatory fields are marked with an
asterisk, and I think this works pretty well.

> And in response to Graystreak:
>
> This is is a question that haunts every web developer, but would you prefer
> the whole Web stopped its evolution on a Lynx level? :)

The whole Web should remember that there are a lot of visually impaired
users out there who use Lynx with screen readers to navigate the Web by
*listening* to it.  This means having ALT tags for all graphic links.  It
means not using the word "here" as a link (as in "Click *here* for more
info on xyz") but instead using a meaningful phrase so that when they jump
from link to link they'll hear something that tells them what the link is.
It means coding all important information textually as well as visually.

> ...  Why not provide the
> added functionality to what now is the majority of users out there?

Agreed.  Just don't leave the minority in the dust.

Elizabeth

--
Elizabeth Buie, Computer Sciences Corporation, Lanham-Seabrook, Maryland, USA
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