Constructive criticism needed

[HexElffilter]

I want to find out your thoughts on the application form I am creating for work.
I work at a college, and have had parents ringing up saying they have had errors when using the current one.

The current one uses asp.net & MS ajax toolkit web controls.
I've come to the conclusion it may be this that is causing some of the problems on different browsers.

I am re-creating it with jquery ui controls and validation.

I would appreciate it if some of you could test and see if it works in different environments.
Also would appreciate any constructive criticism on the layout.

http://www.hexasp.net/form

Thanks

 

[gord]

Firefox (latest stable) on Win 7. Work network.

All looked fine on the first page. Hit next page and was able to select a course area, which updated the courses available etc.. but no next page button? So I tried using the tabs along the top but the remaining ones were all blank..

 

[Paul11]

layout looks messy because each of the boxes is a different length

would look much neater if you could make it more uniform

 

[SoundsGood]

Please de-capitalize the text OR YOU WILL BE INVITED TO A FORMAL INTERVIEW WITH A TUTOR!!!!

 

[RoyMi6]

You want to use a ASP.Net wizard control and NOT use the AJAX Control toolkit for the the tabs at the top let alone recreate it in JQuery.

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/02/21/438732.aspx

Unless you WANT people to go to the next steps without filling in the pages before hand... which I assume you don't considering you don't load the second page data until the first one is complete.

P.S. Using tables for input form layout are the possibly the one exception to the rule. I'd consider this OK in you take into account the time and effort it saves in getting input boxes to perfectly line up across multiple browsers

Roy

 

[AJK]

Also would appreciate any constructive criticism on the layout.

Date of birth should be three drop downs rather than a text field. People can, and will, ignore the instruction "enter your DOB in the format..."

Also, why do you ask for DOB and "age next birthday"? What is the value in this question, aside from a sanity check of the person filling in the form?

 

[HexElffilter]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

but no next page button? So I tried using the tabs along the top but the remaining ones were all blank..

Unless you WANT people to go to the next steps without filling in the pages before hand... which I assume you don't considering you don't load the second page data until the first one is complete

Only done the first two pages atm, the idea is when you click the button you can then view what is on the next tab, but not before.

layout looks messy because each of the boxes is a different length
would look much neater if you could make it more uniform

P.S. Using tables for input form layout are the possibly the one exception to the rule. I'd consider this OK in you take into account the time and effort it saves in getting input boxes to perfectly line up across multiple browsers

I was trying to go for a tableless design, would it make much difference in terms of performance when loading the page?
It's a single aspx page that loads ascx content for each tab.

Please de-capitalize the text

Will do, I copied it from our paper based forms. Wanted to make sure the font was clear enough to read first.

You want to use a ASP.Net wizard control and NOT use the AJAX Control toolkit for the the tabs at the top let alone recreate it in JQuery

How do wizard controls load the content, does it load per wizard step?
Atm I have an aspx page with the jquery code to create tabs on the page, then for each tab I load an ascx page to load the content.

 

[RoyMi6]

Only done the first two pages atm, the idea is when you click the button you can then view what is on the next tab, but not before.

The Wizard control will handle this. Won't let you progress until validators are passed.

I was trying to go for a tableless design, would it make much difference in terms of performance when loading the page?
It's a single aspx page that loads ascx content for each tab.

Tableless design is fine, but remember that tables still have their place. I personaly always use tables for input forms because of the time and effort it saves. With correctly used labels and tab ordering there should be no accessibility hit from using a table. In addition there will be no noticeable hit to performance by using tables for simple form layout.

How do wizard controls load the content, does it load per wizard step?
Atm I have an aspx page with the jquery code to create tabs on the page, then for each tab I load an ascx page to load the content.

Yes, they load each step and it would normally cause a postback (refresh of the page) but if used with a update panel you should get the partial page update you require.

http://www.codegod.de/webappcodegod/updatepanel-tutorial-aspnet-ajax-AID281.aspx

Roy