506272 - Length limits are not stated in the Create a Collection form

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 493306

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Public Pages, defect)

Description

[Joel Maher ( :jmaher ) (UTC -8)]

I am adding a new collection and give it a long name.  This results in an error after clicking submit.  I notice these things change and do not retain state:
1) "who can view your collection" default back to "everybody..."
2) "choose your first add-ons", loses the add-on that I entered in there and selected


Also I think that not letting the user know about the 50 character limit while entering the form the first time is something we should fix.  It is frustrating to fill out a form and find an error when you followed all the instructions on the page.

Comment 1

[fcp]

(In reply to comment #0)
> I am adding a new collection and give it a long name.  This results in an error
> after clicking submit.  I notice these things change and do not retain state:
> 1) "who can view your collection" default back to "everybody..."
> 2) "choose your first add-ons", loses the add-on that I entered in there and
> selected

These are bug 493306.

> Also I think that not letting the user know about the 50 character limit while
> entering the form the first time is something we should fix.  It is frustrating
> to fill out a form and find an error when you followed all the instructions on
> the page.

I changed the summary to reflect this part.  However, I am not completely convinced that this should be fixed.  Fixing 493306 will mitigate that frustration significantly.  Stating all the constraints (such as length limit, allowed characters, etc.) in the form may make the form look cluttered.

Comment 2

[Joel Maher ( :jmaher ) (UTC -8)]

agree on the clutter part.  Maybe a character by character typing thing that mentions if you have an illegal character or have hit the limit.  It could just be some kind of javascript thing that watches for new input and edits the input field accordingly.

Just an idea, nothing I am saying is a must have.

Comment 3

[fcp]

Rereading bug 493306 comment 3 revealed that real-time counting of characters was also stated there.  I agree that it is desirable to have that feature, too.