In my Communication Design column this month, I survey a number of automatic and user-activated Help systems designed to help people complete Web forms. Check out the full article on UXmatters:
Dynamic Help in Web Forms
... there are many types of forms that require lots of obscure data, use unique formats, or have input restrictions. In such cases, the amount of Help text necessary for each input field could quickly overwhelm a form, making it appear quite intimidating or complex. For forms like this, it might make sense to consider using dynamic contextual Help. As various Help systems have emerged online, I’ve started to catalogue the different types I’ve come across. Read the full article...