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by Weiqi Gao.
Original Post: ComboBoxes for Entering U.S. States Are Lame
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I live in St. Louis, MO. And I'm tired of filling out online forms where I have to deal with combo boxes like this:
State*:
Select State
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
This is usually part of an address form where I can pretty much fill out everything by typing in the information and then tab to the next field.
The combo box breaks that flow, forces me to pick up the mouse and click on the down arrow, scroll down so that my state is visible and then select the state.
I know the combo box can be operated with the keyboard. But to get to Missouri, I have to type "M" seven times.
All the while, the task could have been accomplished with two key strokes: by typing "MO".
Someone may argue that the combo box prevents people from entering a two letter combination that's not a state. This argument simply doesn't hold water. Why is it then I'm trusted to type in my street name and city name? Aren't they worried that the city name is non-existent?
The whole thing is silly, a misguided design propagated by ignorant programmers. You've just turned a two key strokes worth of work into three mouse gestures or seven key strokes (eight for Montanans and North Dakotans).
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