Guidelines for Interactive Application Forms

When you are developing any interactive application form, you should ensure that:

Static text fields and grid column titles have enough space allocated to allow for translations.

In general, an increase of 30 percent in the size of a static text field provides adequate room for translated text. Therefore, the text for many static text fields must not occupy more than 70 percent of the field. These are general guidelines only; to provide ample space for an increase in the number of characters during translation any static text field on a form should be stretched to the maximum.

Refer to this table for guidelines about how much you must increase a static text field based on the number of characters of English text:

Number of English Characters	Additional Space Required
1 character	400 percent or 4 characters
2—10 characters	101—200 percent
11—20 characters	81—100 percent
21—30 characters	61—80 percent
31—70 characters	31—40 percent
More than 70 characters	30 percent

Help information is available for all input-capable fields. You can use data dictionary glossaries to define the help information.
A Visual Assist is available for search and UDC fields
Tab sequences have these characteristics:
- Within an application, form tabs are ordered in a logical sequence.
  Ensure that the physical order of the tabs is the same as the tab sequence so that the cursor does not skip fields when the user presses the Tab key.
- Within a form, the tab sequence applies to each group box.
  When a group box contains two or more columns, the tab sequence should move down the left-most column of controls and then down the column to the right.
- The grid is a tab stop.
- In Add mode, the tab sequence begins with the key fields.
- In Change mode, the tab sequence begins with the first unprotected field.
  Note: If related controls appear side-by-side in different columns, then either create a tab sequence that moves across the row or rearrange the order of the fields.