Online forms: Are multiple fields in one line a good idea?

Clients who think that their online forms are too long may consider putting 2 or more fields (e.g. text fields, dropdown menus) next to each other in one line. Is this a good idea?

In short, no, it’s not but this question regularly comes up. I recently discussed this issue with our User Experience consulants and got some consistent responses:

“Keep it as one field per line. People will be able to use the forms more easily by having one flow rather than having to read across and down. I would have thought there would be a higher instance of people missing fields with two or more rows.”

“Not only will having two drop-downs on one line look more cluttered/complicated etc, but it will be less efficient as users will have to go left to right as well as down the form.”

“A long vertical list is better as it maintains focus and reduces error rate. No official stats, but just my observations from previous testing.”

This confirmed my recommendation: Keep one field (e.g. text fields, dropdown menus) per line and think of reducing the fields on the page instead. If the form is really too long and all the fields are necessary (and most of the time they are not) the form should be split in two and have a Step 1 and Step 2.

From an accessibility point of view two dropdown menus next to each other do not violate the DDA guidelines, however, it will make the form more difficult to read.

I hope this proves useful the next time you review the layout of an online form.