Brian LeRoux 💚Aug 9, 2024

Forms on the web have become terrible. Lost state. No keyboard nav. Weird refreshes. Mobile hostile.

The reason is #frontend developers that think clientside state management is how to implement a form. It is not.

Good forms work without client #javascript (and then are progressive enhanced by js to work even better).

Good forms always submit. Good forms remember values and display problems inline.

How do we fix the misconceptions and, in the process, fix the forms on the web ?

Show threadBrian LeRoux 💚Aug 9, 2024
We teach how to do this properly on https://enhance.dev but we are only one of many different frameworks..and the techniques SHOULD be framework agnostic. That said, many frameworks conveniently ignore POST unless it's client fetch. Which is cheesy.
Enhance

The HTML first full stack web framework

Enhance
Show threadBrian LeRoux 💚

Two other notes.

1. Luke W has THE book on design of forms here https://www.lukew.com/resources/web_form_design.asp

2. Most of this is downstream frontend frameworks ignoring POST so they don't need to teach/handle httponly session state for persisting values. Arguably these types of framework are a poor choice for UX.

LukeW | AI Has Flipped Software Development

For years, it's been faster to create mockups and prototypes of software than to ship it to production. As a result, software design teams could stay "ahead" of...

Aug 9, 2024 at 4:01pmWeb
Show threadsayrerAug 9, 2024
@brianleroux this stuff is so crazy… like it is a damn form, one of the oldest things. why do people do these wrong?
Show threadBrian LeRoux 💚Aug 9, 2024
@sayrer the boot camp industrial complex and YouTube influencer education depend on "break into tech" content being primarily about GET requests so they can skip anything backend. At least that's my theory. Cc @slightlyoff @polotek
Show threadwestbrookAug 9, 2024
@brianleroux Oh my, this is absolutely the most convenient reading in relation to some forms that I’m working on right now, especially with the team’s relative proximity to Luke…in meat space. @hunterloftis @bendelarre #🤣
Show threadBrian LeRoux 💚Aug 10, 2024
@westbrook @hunterloftis @bendelarre it's a great book ... definitely supplement with progressive enhancement tho!
Show threadThomas CannonAug 9, 2024
@brianleroux I LITERALLY have a post sitting in drafts that goes into extreme detail on how this can be done in Rails (and the frameworks to best choose to make this possible). I can definitely let you know when it's live (sometime next week!)
Show threadThomas CannonAug 14, 2024
@brianleroux It's finally live! https://ruby.social/@tcannonfodder/112960207186208020
Thomas Cannon (@[email protected])

I just published ~3K words + diagrams + code samples + demo videos on the frontend networking stack I’m choosing for Little CRM, and all my apps going forward. https://thomascannon.me/guides/fixing-the-rails-networking-stack I know that’s a ton to dig into, but I believe this is a very strong path forward for resilient and maintainable web apps.

Ruby.social
Show threadskryAug 9, 2024
@brianleroux Yes, and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forms-that-Work-Interactive-Technologies/dp/1558607102/
Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability (Interactive Technologies): Amazon.co.uk: Caroline Jarrett, Gerry Gaffney, Steve Krug: 9781558607101: Books

Buy Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability (Interactive Technologies) 1 by Caroline Jarrett, Gerry Gaffney, Steve Krug (ISBN: 9781558607101) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.