4. Designing data entry screens 2

Navigation

Where there is a lot of data to be entered, it might be necessary to have more than one screen for the user to access.

Navigation must be clear to the user. For example how do they move forward to the next screen, go back to the previous screen and how do they exit the form?

Consistency

If there are several pages/screens of forms to complete then consistency in the design of each page is critical.

The same font size and style should be used, colours should remain the same. Navigation buttons should look similar between pages and be located in the same place.

If the data is to be copied from a paper form into a data entry form on the computer then there must be consistency between them both. The fields should be in the same order, the field names should be identical.

Validation

Validation checks can be built in to check that users are entering reasonable and acceptable data. They will however, not check that the data is correct.

Error messages which are clear and useful should be provided to inform the user of any errors or mistakes they make whilst using the data entry screen.

Help facilities

There should be help options provided to assist the user. For example, by the side of fields, a button with a '?' can be provided. When clicked on, a pop-up box will appear, giving the user advice and possibly an example of how to enter data into that field.

Error messages which are clear and useful should be provided to inform the user of any errors or mistakes they make so that they know how to correctly enter data next time.

Audible error messages could also be used to draw a users' attention to a mistake. A noise or sound as a warning is often more likely to grab the users' attention than a written warning.