Form Element Best Practices

The following best practices should be applied when adding elements to a form. 

Element Labels

Element Labels should:

• Provide a clear description for the end-user (such as First Name)
• Use title case and appropriate punctuation
• Not be longer than 35 characters
  
  Note: If a longer explanation is needed for a field, use an Information element.

Element Name

• Element Name should provide code-friendly markup for the developer (such as First_Name)
• If submitting to the HCMS, Element Names:
  • Must be unique when converted to lowercase (Using "Element1" and "element1" as Names for separate elements allowed but will fail if submitted to HCMS as it will see them both as "element1".)
  • Cannot contain special characters other than underscores and dashes
  • Cannot start or end in an underscore or dash
  • Cannot exceed 40 characters

Lists

• Alphabetize all option lists
  
• Options such as “Other” or “None of the Above” should be used at the end of the list as they indicate alternative choices from the set of options
• When ‘Other’ is provided as an option, a text element for ‘Other’ should be conditionally provided
  

Specific Element Settings

• Information Elements: All external links within the form should open in a new window
• Checkbox and Radio Elements: Configure to ‘display as buttons’ for the best mobile experience
• Image Element: The label configured for the image will be utilized as alternative (alt) text for accessibility. Utilize this guide for guidance on writing effective alt-text descriptions.

Specific Content Settings

• Mailing Addresses: Provide the following items as individual Text elements:
  • Address 1, Address 2, City, State, Zip Code

Resources

• Form Element Types
• Create a Form