3. Designing data entry screens 1

Formatting

When designing a data entry screen which will be used by other people to enter data, there are a number of things which you need to take into consideration.

Font style - The font chosen must be easy to read. An open faced font such as Arial is ideal, a designer font such as 'chiller' is unlikely to be a good choice.

Font size of headings, field names and instructions are important. A balance must be struck between text being large enough for everyone to read, but not so large that it dominates the screen.

Colours - care must be taken when choosing the colours to use. It must be easy to read the font against the background colour. There should be a good contrast, e.g. black text on a white background. Clashing colours should be avoided at all costs. Complimentary colours should be used with care as it might be difficult for people with visual impairments to distinguish the text from the background.

If there are a lot of different sections to the data entry screen, sometimes different colours can be used to highlight information.

Graphics should be kept to a minimum. Any graphics used should have a purpose e.g. the company logo.

Animation - should be avoided at all costs, it can be incredibly distracting for someone who is trying to concentrate on entering their data correctly.

Layout

The screen design is important, it should be clear and uncluttered. It is important that enough space is left between text and data entry fields.

Fields should be laid out in a logical order to make it easy for the user to enter data. It is sensible to have things such as title, forename and surname together. It would not be sensible to have surname, then phone number then postcode and finally first name.