Suggested form corrections
Silktide finds forms on your pages and asks you to confirm that when a visitor's input is rejected, the error message suggests how to fix it. "Enter a date in the format dd/mm/yyyy" helps; "Invalid input" does not.
Why this matters
An error message that only says something is wrong leaves the visitor guessing. People with cognitive or learning disabilities may not be able to work out what the form wanted, and users cannot skim the page for visual hints. Vague errors are where form completions die - each guess-and-resubmit cycle loses more visitors.
A suggestion turns the dead end into a next step, often the difference between a completed purchase or application and an abandoned one.
How to fix it
This check asks you to verify each form manually, because error messages only appear when a form is actually submitted:
- Trigger the common validation failures on each form: leave required fields empty, enter an invalid email address, use the wrong date format.
- Check each error message says what is wrong and how to correct it, in plain language - for example "Enter your telephone number, including the area code", not "Validation failed".
- Check the message appears near the relevant field and is associated with
it in code, for example via the
aria-describedbyattribute.
Suggestions may be omitted where they would compromise security or purpose - for example, a log-in form should not reveal whether the email address or the password was incorrect, and a quiz should not hint at the right answer.
If a flagged form already provides good suggestions, the finding.
How Silktide tests this
- Find every form on each page.
- Skip forms with no fields a visitor can actually use (hidden or non-interactive forms), and any elements you have excluded from checking.
- Flag each remaining form for your review. Silktide does not fill in and submit forms during a scan, so the quality of error messages is a judgement for a human.