Tackling 60+ forms - simplifying language

Process & Techniques
#1

Hi everyone. I am working on an internal project. I have 60+ online forms (currently in use). These are mostly technology requests of one type or another. They are fairly short - after a brief overview I can see that several have “similar” shared terms - but they use different words or phrases as the field heading. IE: comments box field names can vary such as: “additional notes” “additional comments” “comments”

I was thinking I’d just make an excel document and start to catalog every field name - it’s perceived meaning and group the ones that seem to mean the same thing - then run all of those field headings by users via some type of content testing?

Does this seem on track? Or is this overdoing it? Should I just pick a term that makes sense and then test with users?

1 Like
#3

hey, I can recommend this book A Book Apart, Everyday Information Architecture

what you are doing is information architecture revision and you’re doing it right so far. good luck :slight_smile:

#4

Your approach seems sound: it’s a content structure / information architecture challenge. Setting standard terms for common elements for your entire company is a big job but well worth doing. It’ll promote recognition (instead of a user having to recall how they use something) in your interface and make the thing much more tolerant towards users.

Should you pick something and test it? For sure. Find out what works, what people engage with, and where people drop off in your forms. Maybe you could split test the language you use?