Address forms

Filling in an address can be time-consuming and frustrating. What is Address line 2 for? You may not have a surname, so what should you enter in a Surname field? Avoid these confusions and help users fill out address forms.

Build a user-friendly form

Many forms use one field for first name and one for surname. However, some people don't have a surname, or their names don't have two parts, so how should they fill in the surname field? Use a single <input> for the name field. Learn more about handling different name formats.

According to research, Address line 2 can be confusing for users. Consider using a <textarea> for the whole address, or hide the Address line 2 field behind a reveal <button>.

Be careful with form control descriptions. For example, users in the US say ZIP, in the UK postcode. Use <label for="zip">ZIP or postal code (optional)</label> to make sure users know what data to enter. Make the postal code field optional–not every address has a postal code.

Help users enter their address

The autocomplete attribute can help users re-enter their address:

• autocomplete="name"
• autocomplete="street-address"
• autocomplete="postal-code"
• autocomplete="country"

You can define multiple values separated by a space for autocomplete. Say you have a form with a shipping address and another form for a billing address. To tell the browser which postal code is for the billing address, you can use autocomplete="billing postal-code". For the shipping address, use shipping as the first value.

Change the label for the Enter key on on-screen keyboards with the enterkeyhint attribute. Use enterkeyhint="done" for the last form control, and enterkeyhint="next" for the other form controls.

Resources

• Payment and address forms best practices
• Form Usability: Getting Address Line 2 Right