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Form design: multiple inputs versus one input

• Blog post by Adam Silver, explaining why splitting inputs can be problematic. A technique often used for credit card numbers and bank sort-codes, I’ve often found such forms quite slick, but hadn’t considered some of their accessibility downsides:
  • Multiple inputs mean users can’t easily paste information in, unless JavaScript has been written to allow it (which may not be obvious to the user).
  • It can be difficult to correct mistakes if the form auto-focuses the next input in the sequence.
  • Each input is difficult to label meaningfully. The label is often hidden from sighted users, if provided at all, and makes for a noisy screen reader experience.
• Instead, Adam encourages us to allow free-form text and to be forgiving of extra spaces and dashes in inputs. The exception is dates, where multiple inputs should be used, to clarify which portion of the date is the month and which is the day (as this varies around the world).

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