New generation of web forms or a design stunt?
Huffduffer has come with a quite interesting sign up form. Does it represent a new generation of web forms or is it nothing more than a design stunt?
The sign up form @ huffduffer.com resembles a traditional paper-form we’ve seen for years: some text with gaps to fill-in to provide the requested information. It’s actually the first time that I see something similar on the web. But will that case trigger a new revolution or is it just a design mockup that we’ll never see again?
I really like the idea how Huffduffer has presented the sign up form. It’s new, it’s fresh and it’s something people are familiar with. By reading the text you get to know the context of the information they request and you can fill in the gaps as-you-read. The downside of the form is how the input validation is presented: after hitting the Join button, the form is being posted to the server. If you left blank one of the required fields, the associated label changes and the “(required)” text appears. They should’ve known better…
I think that the Huffduffer style form is suitable for filling a short sign up form. Applying the same design to a longer questionnaire would definitely miss the point. First of all you would have to read a lot of text to find out what information they require and second of all, you would miss the overview of what you’ve just filled in as the information is in-between the text.
I hope that we will see more of Huffduffer-like forms in the future and the monotony of web forms will be broken. The most important thing to know is what is the audience and which style applies the best.