Over the past few weeks, I’ve discovered that most web forms that contain a field for a url have a major usability failure when it comes to validating the content of the field… the validation fails if you neglect to enter “http://” preceeding the variable portion of the url.

Sure, sure, I get it. Perhaps the form is anticipating that a user may be linking to a site using https://, and thusly requires the user to specify the protocol… but for users linking to blogs, corporate websites, and the other most common use cases for these types of fields, the likelihood of linking to a secure server is (or should be) inversely proportional to the number of users on the site… or in other words, as the number of users increases, the probability of a user’s url requiring https:// approaches 1/∞ (remember algebra? it gets close to zero).

So, a note to all my fellow developers out there… chances are, if someone is linking to something on your site, it’s far more likely that it will require http:// rather than https://… Browsers don’t require that you type http:// before your URL anymore… neither should our forms.   Adhering to the same conventions users are used to elsewhere in their travels throughout the internet will create  a much more satisfying user experience.  Here are a couple of recommendations:

1. Write up your validations accordingly.  Don’t require a prefix, but allow users to add one, on the off chance that they *are* referring to a secure server.
2. If, for some reason, you deem it necessary to require users to specify the appropriate prefix, gosh darn it, specify the format for a valid url below the field, or at least display the required format as a tooltip/popup when the user is focused on the field, and draw attention to the required prefix.  Novice – and even seasoned users – may otherwise gloss over it – and be forced to endure the frustration of a failed attempt at submission.
3. When the field loses focus, alert the user to the fact that their url is not formatted properly.  In big Red letters, and all caps if necessary… preferably somewhere near the field (if it’s still visible in the user’s frame of vision) or near the submit button to remind them to fix their error before continuing

Sure, chances are if they submitted the field once, they’ll fix their error and submit it again… but they’ll be mumbling and grumbling under their breath at you, and I know that some of you out there wouldn’t want to hear the names I’ve called you after a failed form submission. So be good to your users, and build your forms and validations with an eye towards the most common use cases, and make those who subvert convention be the ones who do the work.

For the less geeky, in case you’re wondering why http vs. https matters at all, take a look after the cut for the random facts.

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