Yep, the team I’m on / DS contributor did a lot of multi input vs single input and it’s just not even close. Multi-input proved harder to use, especially error recovery and significantly harder to make. Lose lose!
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Can you share any more insights into the specific problems found into the research. Just how bad it was. Whatever it was. And how they went about testing it.
Ultimately
-Those receiving code on the same device will often not type the code
-assistive tech over index receiving code on a different device
-each input needing an exceptionally verbose hidden label
-to auto tab or not
-navigating back to fix a mistake
-paste (can be spread obvs)
Essentially - anyone on a desktop will need to type in a code from an SMS received on a mobile device. We believe users of assistive tech will over index on desktop use, less likely to be able to handover between devices due to make (Mobile iOS and Windows)…
Therefore the design should prioritise those that have to input the code manually as users that receive the code on the same device will likely use the autocomplete feature or copy/paste.
This was partly inspired by user interviews and partly by the yearly WebAim screen reader surveys. Either way it was just about understanding situations where it would be hardest to enter a code received by SMS.
Really when it came down to it, there was just very little benefit compared to the amount of work it would take to do it well. Some research was done with DAC and screen reader users using other people’s implementations - all stated it was harder to transpose and edit the multi input passcode
God knows I've run into the issue of not being able to tab back to fix an error, because some dumb script says "this is non-empty, kick 'em to the next box"
please please please tell me your results have been written up in a blog post that I can share with my clients 🤞🏻🤞🏻 They're determined to have multiple inputs without any of the necessary accessibility support, like labels. Or copy-paste.
Comments
-Those receiving code on the same device will often not type the code
-assistive tech over index receiving code on a different device
-each input needing an exceptionally verbose hidden label
-to auto tab or not
-navigating back to fix a mistake
-paste (can be spread obvs)
…
what's this?
Essentially - anyone on a desktop will need to type in a code from an SMS received on a mobile device. We believe users of assistive tech will over index on desktop use, less likely to be able to handover between devices due to make (Mobile iOS and Windows)…
But dates are the only exception I can think of.