Put text somewhere on a form

[Majodi]

Suppose I have a form with some fields (prompts and entry) and I would like to have some explaining text above each field or somewhere else on the form. What would be the best way to do that?

Thanks,

Majodi

[Poul]

You can use the Comment or Tooltips for field by field,
you can also use the subheading for certain designs to explain a form.
or add a 'display' type field and some text in amongst things...

Is that what you mean?

[Majodi]

I used the subheading and tooltip. In this case I need a more prominent place on the form. Comment I have to look at. But perhaps a display field with some fixed text would do. Thanks.

But still, I'm trying to figure out the flow of things, how and where parts of a page are generated and where I best could fit in some HTML (knowing where it will end up <g>).

Majodi

[Bruce]

Hi Majodi,

Yes it is difficult to visualise a form until you get the hang of it.

The "comment" field is explicitly designed for "explanatory text" about a field. This is the web so more explaining is necessary, and that's what the comment is there for.

Display fields also work well, but I'd recommend the comment first.

Cheers
Bruce

[Majodi]

Yep, I think the comment field will work.

Thanks,

Majodi

[Poul]

and once you get the hang of it you can add your own comment css class to just a single comment,  I have used that to repurpose "comments" for all kinds of things.

You could for example make it big and bold,  or depending on the layout, the comment contents does not need to be related to the field it is associated with...
I recently had a screen with many columns spanned across the form, the comments become overwhelming, so i kept the fields on the left side without,  and cherry picked  where to place the comments on the right - if you are careful it can look quite sharp as it resizes with different data/sizes etc, of course its real easy to get real ugly - both with too  much data or not enough, for that"liquid" flow  - so you must combine fixed and variable techniques.