Time Entry - Usability

1
votes

What is the conventional wisdom around entering times into a web app? I've seen both free form fields, and drop downs.

I have a user right now arguing that drop downs are easier to use, despite the fact that you have 18 options between 3 drop downs. I feel that using a text field (and PHP strtotime()) that I can eliminate all of that hassle, and give the user some flexibility.

I can't seem to find any documentation on tests that point me in either direction, other than someone mentioning Hick's Law on a forum. Can anyone point me to something and/or give definite answers?

2
htmlweb-applicationsuser-interfaceusability
How do you get 18 options between 3 dropdowns? Isn't it 12 * 60 * 2 options? Or 2 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 2? Or at least 12 * 24 * 2 if you only resolve time to the nearest 5 minutes? - Michael Zuschlag
You need to provide me one piece of additional info & I will answer your question...what time is being captured? Is it (i) the current time or (ii) some time in the past or future? When it comes to usability, context of use will answer most questions. - Forer
Future Time - if it was current time I'd just make a timestamp behind the scenes. - Cory Dee

2 Answers

2
votes

Text box entry is without a doubt faster than combo boxes. A rudimentary GOMS-KLM analysis shows that.

Users generally know how to type a time so user error is not a major concern assuming you provide a wide range of tolerance for the format (e.g., accepting 2pm, 2:00 PM, 0200p, 14.00, 14 as all the same). It also helps to use Javascript or equivalent to suppress all letters except ‘a’, ‘p’, and autocomplete the ‘m’. Autocorrect any symbol to ‘:’.

Users sometimes forget the AM or PM, leading them to schedule a meeting at 2:00am. You may want to include a dropdown or option buttons for AM/PM alone to cue the user, while still accepting entry of it in the text box and automatically selecting the dropdown/option button accordingly.

If you have to convince just one user, mockup up both a dropdown and text box versions and sit with him/her with a stopwatch and time him/her entering times. When you show that the textbox takes about 2-3 seconds, while dropdowns take over 9 seconds, that should do it.

1
votes

I despise drop downs for times, but that is just me. I feel they slow the end user down. You should free form it and then format it the way you want. Also just set up some validations to ensure people are entering correct data into the field.

But yes I agree with you.