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I recently came across an interesting method of displaying Address Line 2 in address forms.

Here are two screenshots to show the different states of displaying this field.

The first image shows the initial state of the form the user sees.

Notice the link for “add another address line” is displayed just below Address 1 field.

The second image shows the form after clicking the “add another address line” link.

Notice that the Address 2 field now appears.

According the the United States Postal Service, “If you can’t fit the suite or apartment number on the same line as the delivery address, put it on the line ABOVE the delivery address, NOT on the line below.”

- http://www.usps.com/businessmail101/addressing/deliveryAddress.htm

I had no idea about this until a colleague responded.  It seemed there were many others that were unaware of this as well.

Why hide the Address 2 field? 

I asked several people if they use the second address line on address forms and received varying responses with the majority saying they use the Address 2 field all the time to enter their apartment number.

At first I thought it might be a clever way of hiding a field that (from my viewpoint) was hardly used. 

If you think about it though, it’s not helpful at all for those who do use it even if it is not used the way it is supposed to be according to the USPS.  The fact is it takes up the same amount of space that the Address 2 form field would have taken up.

Also, it would have been in plain site so that users who normally do use the field would not have to click the link just to make it display.  The fact that the field label is not bold like the other labels help users quickly determine it is not required.

So again I ask, why hide it?  Will users who normally use Address Line 2 know that they are supposed to click a link to add another address line or will they have some confusion and possibly overlook the link?

Here is another sample of an address form. 

Notice here that the Address Line 2 field is visible right away and is explicitly called out as being optional.  Does this make more sense to the user?

Your thoughts? If you had a preference, which one would you choose?

Cheers.

(currently listening to Coldplay – Talk (Junkie XL Remix) on Fusion Radio Chicago)

I’m back after some web hosting issues, but only long enough to pack up my PC before I move.

The website has been moved to a new server and I tried installing Magento for testing, but the first pass at install did not work.  I will try again tonight and see if I can get it working before I begin packing up the home office.

I have been tracking a few things lately and will have plenty to write about once I get my PC set up at the new place.  If all goes well I will have Internet access Tuesday night.  Keep your fingers crossed.

This should be my view the next time I write a new post … minus the fingertip on the right. (edit – it seems the fingertip disappeared from the picture after I added it to the blog.)

So this is my first blog.  It has been a long time in the making (well, maybe just a couple days) and I am very excited to see how this turns out.

I am hoping that this blog will allow me to share my experiences in user-centered design and help me to learn more about user experience as a practice. I will continue to improve the site as I learn more about WordPress and blogging in general.

Sit back and enjoy.  I have plenty to talk about and I hope you all can join in on the discussion.

Cheers.