EN ISO 9241-17:1998

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-junij-2001
Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) - Part
17: Form filling dialogues (ISO 9241-17:1998)
Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) - Part 17:
Form filling dialogues (ISO 9241-17:1998)
Ergonomische Anforderungen für Bürotätigkeiten mit Bildschirmgeräten - Teil 17:
Dialogführung mittels Bildschirmformularen (ISO 9241-17:1998)
Exigences ergonomiques pour travail de bureau avec terminaux a écrans de
visualisation (TEV) - Partie 17: Dialogues de type remplissage de formulaires (ISO 9241-
17:1998)
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN ISO 9241-17:1998
ICS:
13.180 Ergonomija Ergonomics
35.180 Terminalska in druga IT Terminal and other
periferna oprema IT peripheral equipment
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 9241-17
First edition
1998-08-01
Ergonomic requirements for office work
with visual display terminals (VDTs) —
Part 17:
Form filling dialogues
Exigences ergonomiques pour travail de bureau avec terminaux à écrans
de visualisation (TEV) —
Partie 17: Dialogues de type remplissage de formulaires
A
Reference number
ISO 9241-17:1998(E)
ISO 9241-17:1998(E)
Contents Page
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 2
3 Definitions . 2
4 Application of this part of ISO 9241. 3
4.1 Appropriateness of form filling dialogues . 3
4.2 Applying the recommendations. 4
4.3 Evaluation of products . 4
5 Form filling structure . 4
5.1 General . 4
5.2 Layout . 5
5.3 Fields and labels . 6
6 Input considerations . 7
6.1 General . 8
6.2 Alphanumeric text entry . 8
6.3 Choice entries . 9
6.4 Control . 11
6.5 Field validation . 12
7 Feedback . 13
7.1 Echoing. 13
7.2 Cursor and pointer position. 13
7.3 Field errors. 13
7.4 Transmission acknowledgement. 13
7.5 Database changes . 13
8 Navigation . 13
8.1 Initial cursor position . 13
8.2 Movement between fields . 13
8.3 Return to initial field. 14
8.4 Tabbing . 14
8.5 Scrolling . 15
8.6 Form selection . 15
©  ISO 1998
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Organization for Standardization
Case postale 56 • CH-1211 Genève 20 • Switzerland
Internet iso@iso.ch
Printed in Switzerland
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ISO ISO 9241-17:1998(E)
Annexes
A (informative) Sample procedure for assessing applicability
and adherence .
(informative)
B Bibliography .
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Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide
federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of
preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO
technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which
a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented
on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-
governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO
collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission
(IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are
circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting
a vote.
International Standard ISO 9241 was prepared by Technical Committee
ISO/TC 159, Ergonomics, Subcommittee SC 4, Ergonomics of human-
system interaction.
ISO 9241 consists of the following parts, under the general title Ergonomic
requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs):
— Part 1: General introduction
— Part 2: Guidance on task requirements
— Part 3: Visual display requirements
— Part 4: Keyboard requirements
— Part 5: Workstation layout and postural requirements
— Part 6: Guidance on the work environment
— Part 7: Display requirements with reflections
— Part 8: Requirements for displayed colours
— Part 9: Requirements for non-keyboard input devices
— Part 10: Dialogue principles
— Part 11: Guidance on usability
— Part 12: Presentation of information
— Part 13: User guidance
— Part 14: Menu dialogues
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— Part 15: Command dialogues
— Part 16: Direct manipulation dialogues
— Part 17: Form filling dialogues
Annexes A and B of this part of ISO 9241 are for information only.
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ISO 9241-17:1998(E) ISO
Introduction
ISO 9241 is a multipart standard that deals with both the hardware and
software ergonomic aspects of the use of VDTs. The description of the
parts, their interrelationships, and a description of the expected users of
the parts is provided in ISO 9241-1:1992, Ergonomic requirements for
office work with visual display terminals (VDTs) — Part 1: General
introduction.
This part of ISO 9241 is concerned with the ergonomic design of form filling
dialogues. In form filling dialogues, users fill in, select entries for, or modify
labelled fields on an area of the screen display.
This part of ISO 9241 serves the following types of users:
a) The user interface designer, who will apply this part of ISO 9241 during
the development process.
b) The designer of printed forms which serve as source documents.
c) The buyer, who will reference this part of ISO 9241 during the product
procurement process.
d) Evaluators responsible for ensuring products meet the recommen-
dations in this part of ISO 9241.
e) Designers of user interface development tools to be used by interface
designers.
f) End users who will gain from the potential benefits provided by this part
of ISO 9241.
This part of ISO 9241 consists of a number of conditional recommen-
dations concerning form filling dialogues. Conditional recommendations are
recommendations which should be met only within the specific context for
which they are relevant (e.g, particular kinds of users, tasks, environments,
technology). These conditional recommendations were developed primarily
by reviewing the existing relevant literature and empirical evidence, then
generalizing and formulating this work into recommendations for use by the
interface designer and/or evaluator. Sources for the individual
recommendations are listed in Informative Annex B.
Designers using this part of ISO 9241 need to know that they are
developing an interface that will meet the recommendations provided in this
part. Likewise, buyers and evaluators need a means to determine how a
product matches the recommendations in this part of ISO 9241. It is not
intended that every recommendation should be applied, only those that are
relevant. Informative Annex A provides an example of a procedure for
evaluating the applicability of and adherence to the conditional
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recommendations provided in this part of ISO 9241. Design objectives are
provided prior to each of the major clauses to focus on the intent of the
recommendations within the clause.
The application of this part of ISO 9241 is expected to improve the overall
quality of the form filling dialogue, but this standard (like any other
standard) will not guarantee the quality of the interface. Quality depends on
specific usability criteria as set by the user, buyer or other form filling
dialogue consumer which may include specifications based on this part of
ISO 9241.
It should be noted that ISO 9241-10 describes dialogue principles that are
relevant for the design of form filling dialogues. These principles should
provide the designer and evaluator with additional information concerning
the ergonomic rationale for the various recommendations in this part of
ISO 9241 and, therefore, assist in making tradeoffs. However, it may be
necessary to base tradeoffs on other considerations as well.
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INTERNATIONAL STANDARD  ISO ISO 9241-17:1998(E)
Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display
terminals (VDTs) —
Part 17:
Form filling dialogues
1  Scope
This part of ISO 9241 provides conditional recommendations on dialogue design, input design and output design for
computer dialogues in which form filling and dialogue boxes are used to accomplish typical office tasks. Form
filling dialogues are dialogues in which the user fills in, selects entries for, or modifies labelled fields on a "form" or
a dialogue box presented by the system. Often the system then creates, or updates the database associated with
the form. Form filling entries typically are in the form of typed input (abbreviations, or full names) or selections from
available option lists. This part of ISO 9241 pertains to form filling dialogues generated through both VDT character-
based and bit-mapped screen displays (often referred to as “GUIs”) and input through keyboards and optional
pointing devices (e.g. mice). In addition, this part includes the use of non-text methods for providing forms entries
(e.g. list boxes) and pertains to dialogue boxes which utilize form filling dialogue techniques. It should be noted that
some of the recommendations in this part of ISO 9241 are based on Western Language conventions. For other
languages, the recommendations may need to be modified to fit the readability considerations inherent in these
languages. These recommendations can be utilized throughout the development process (e.g., as guidance for
designers during design, as a basis for heuristic evaluation, as guidance for usability testing) and in the
procurement process.
Interface design depends upon the task, the user, the environment, and the available technology. Consequently,
this part of ISO 9241 cannot be applied without a knowledge of the design and use context of the interface and it is
not intended to be used as a prescriptive set of rules to be applied in their entirety (see ISO 9241-11). Rather, it
assumes that the designer has proper information available concerning task and user requirements and
understands the use of available technology (this may require consultation with a qualified ergonomics professional
as well as empirical testing with real users).
The recommendations relate to the three major design components of user interfaces, i.e., dialogue, input, and
output.
Dialogue design determines the way in which a user is guided by the system to make inputs and influences the
amount of control the user has over the dialogue. Form filling dialogues should be designed to support the user in
his/her actual work without creating additional work caused by system peculiarities as well as enabling the user to
become well-informed and to remain in control of the flow of work (also, see ISO 9241-10 which deals with dialogue
principles). Dialogue design is covered in this part of ISO 9241 in terms of designing form filling structures, providing
feedback mechanisms and providing appropriate navigation methods.
Input design is concerned with how input devices can be applied to facilitate the entry and modification of form
fields. One or more devices such as an alphanumeric keyboard, function keys, pointing devices and voice (other
devices are not excluded) can be provided depending on the task at hand and dialogue requirements, as well as on
individual preferences. This part of ISO 9241 provides conditional recommendations for text entry, choice entry, and
control using various input devices.
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ISO 9241-17:1998(E)
Output design is concerned with how data is to be presented consistently and distinctly on the screen display. This
part of ISO 9241 provides conditional recommendations for the output design of form filling dialogues in terms of the
content and placement of fields and groups of fields (also see ISO 9241-12 for general inform
...