Defaults

Whenever the user has to fill out a text field in a form or make a selection from a list, the system may preset it to a default value so that the user doesn't have to do anything if this value is acceptable. There are several ways in which the software can determine a default value:

1. Always set it to the same value
2. Set it to the same value as the current user entered last time
3. Try to guess the value from something else the user has entered

Method 3 can be quite confusing if it fails and the guessing method is not obvious to the user. Which method to use may be determined by a usability test.

This page was last modified 2008-Dec-08