I applied to be a Games Maker for the 2012 Olympics this morning and had to struggle through the application form. Not too bad, but some annoying design and validation issues that just make it hard…
- They do their best to put you off by asking all sorts of personal questions first. What’s your Passport details, have you passed an Child Protection assessment, telling you there’s going to be background checks and just a very formal first form. All the lead up to the application is friendly and informative and them you’re just hit between the eyes with this stuff with no warning. I know why they are asking, but from a experience point of view, I think it would be better if they asked later, let me tell you lots of good stuff first!
- For your experience, they have a maximum of 80 characters – far less than a tweet. Then it’s set in a big text box with no character count. So you type something and then have to keep editing and validating, editing and validating to get it right (or take it elsewhere to write and count characters)
Games Maker Form
- Validation sucks. Some fields validate on the page. Others are only checked once the whole form is submitted and it takes you back through multiple forms to complete fields that looked like they could just be left alone. So some testing has been overlooked.
Overall, it’s a good form, jsst with a annoying elements that don’t feel finished!