Question protocol

General formatting

All questions should be written in sentence case (cap only the first word).
Please adhere to the gov.ie style guide regarding capitalisation and spelling etc. Note that the words form, applicant, teacher, doctor, carer, leave, department, circular, minister, government, etc are all lower case when they appear alone.

Name fields

The format for the name fields should be

First name

Middle name [only for forms where middle name is required]

Last name

Reasoning: ‘What is your name?’ and subsequent questions in question-marked format are unnecessary. Single word and short phrases are preferable to sentences in question-marked format, especially for people whose first language is not English.

Exceptions: On forms that could be filled out by a particular job type or by a third party, it is clearer to write “Teacher’s name” or “Parent/guardian’s name”. Proceed on a case-by-case basis. However, using sub-headers for form sections can remove the need to qualify the name type. See sub-headers below.

Gender

Gender options for dropdowns:

Man (including trans man)

Woman (including trans woman)

Non-binary or gender non-conforming

Date

For date of birth/start of leave/end of leave etc, date-pickers should be standard.
If manual date fields are ever used we should instruct the user to enter the date in dd/mm/yyyy. This applies only to separate periods of weeks until such time as the date-picker allows for multiple date entries.
Wording of questions that require entering of start and end dates needs to be carefully done. Use the word “inclusive” to denote periods in which the start and end dates are included, e.g. absence etc.

Email

This should state “Email address”
In cases of forms involving leave, the personal email should be requested. Note: only request the email if it will in reality be used. If being used, the GDPR policy will outline the terms of collection and usage of email addresses.
There must be a mandatory "confirm email" field to avoid typo errors or a copy of the form being accidentally sent to a stranger’s email.

Phone number

Should be worded as "Phone number” and not Mobile number as the field should allow for landlines as well as mobiles.
Field should allow for overseas mobiles in all cases.

Address fields

The wording should be "Address"
For non-applicant address, say "School address" "GP address" and so on.

Ambiguous wording to avoid

Terms such as “Give details of” and “Enter any additional information” should be clarified to the maximum. If asking for dates of previous hospitalisations, illnesses, absences, career breaks, for example, state “enter the dates of...” instead of “give details of”. Encourage form-builders to rephrase these open-ended questions as more specific questions for information they actually need for the form.
The term ‘in chronological order’ is not advisable when instructing users to enter dates or blocks of information. Plain English this to “Starting with the most recent…”
Avoid the use of quote marks – single or double – around words.

An example is:

“If ‘yes’, please state the previous dates of your career break.”

This should read:

“If yes, please state the previous dates of your career break.”

GDPR and privacy concerns

Online forms will be novel for many users so trust won’t be automatic. A clear and easily accessed GDPR policy covering reason for collection and use of data, storage method and duration must be in place.

Section headers/sub-headers

For the best user experience, give your form sub-headers to denote what type of information is being sought in each section. The first one would usually be: “Your personal details” - in sentence case.
An optional explanatory strap/sub-head can be added to expand on what the section is for.
As the personal information fields drop the possessive pronouns throughout (“your name” etc) these can appear in sub-headers

General form functions to note

All mandatory questions need to indicate they cannot be skipped.
The “submit” button is in place of a signature or declaration, except for forms requiring a declaration agreement with a legal basis.
Ensure there is a well composed “Thank you” page after the submit button to tell the user their form has been sent and what will happen next.

Forms style guide