Without any specific examples, but something I’ve seen a lot lately is forms (mostly online) where the label for a field has an icon next to it that is some variation of a question mark in a circle. My understanding and expectation of this is that it’s an indication that additional, helpful information is available to help complete the field. Clicking on the icon or placing the cursor over it will reveal something helpful.

However. What lot’s of sites/pages/forms often do is repeat the text of the label, or have some equally useless message like “Enter you [label text]”.

Who is that for? What is it intended to help with?

What are the lessons?

  • Never assume knowledge by the person completing the form.
  • Check that “help text” is actually helpful.
  • Explain what information is needed, where it’s used and why it’s asked for.
  • Don’t add features because you assume you need to have them or because you’ve seen them elsewhere.
  • If a tool automatically adds a default value (such as help text) if none is entered, check what the default it.
  • If you’re trying to do something to help, make sure it does.