ergophobe - 6:23 pm on Apr 30, 2012 (gmt 0)

Ergophobes Pet Peeves

1. Password Form Usability: Incomplete Password Instructions.

I'm at a form right now that says:

minimum 8 characters in length include at least 1 number and 1 letter contain no spaces

Which raises the questions
- It tells me the minimum, but what's the maximum. I use Lastpass and I'll go 100 characters if allowed, but on a form like this, I have to go by trial and error.
- It says no spaces and at least 1 number and 1 letter, but what about '%&?\/ and so on?

In the case at hand, it actually allowed a very long password and any character I threw at it, but often I've found instructions like this with max lengths as low as 12 chars, and certain characters prohibited but not others.

2. Phone number forms usability

Phone number forms often should, ideally, simply strip non-integer characters and therefore should be "format agnostic" and also, inherently secure if you throw away everything but integers. Why should the form care if I put my phone number in as

800-123-4567
(800) 123-4567
800.123.4567

If you are going to require a format, make display it prominently below the box.

3. Ditto for Social Security Numbers and Credit Card Numbers

It's a lot easier for me to read if I can input my card number as it appears on the card. Don't tell me spaces are not allowed or that spaces are required! Just strip spaces and dashes, at least. But why not strip all non-numeric and then validate from there?

Okay, there's three. What are yours?