Best Practices For Website Form Design In 2025

Website form design plays a crucial role in fulfilling a certain business goal or objective. Forms are used to encourage users to make a purchase/order or gain information for marketing purposes. Hence, the design should be taken into account as it could make or break the user’s decision while filling out the forms. To help you design a good website form, here are the web form design best practices to watch out for in 2025:

The importance of web form design 

You may wonder why is web form design important. Well, here are the reasons why you should care about your web form design: 

• Boost conversions and sales: Since web forms have a specific purpose or goal, a good design helps you to achieve it by encouraging users to complete the form
• Improve user experience: Users will be more than happy to complete forms that are well-designed and easy to fill out
• Build credibility and trust: A good web form design helps to establish the business is credible and trustworthy

10 web form design best practices in 2025 

Here are some of the web form design best practices to take note of and consider implementing for your website in 2025:

1. Use adaptive form fields

Adaptive form fields are one of the latest web form design best practices in 2025 as the form will automatically adjust according to the user’s input and latest content from your website. Here are things to take note of for the web form: 

• Display input fields that are relevant: Display relevant input fields based on the user’s input by using conditional logic
• Ensure proper testing is implemented: To check whether the form fields adapt according to the user’s input, test continuously on various devices

2. Ensure the form is concise and straightforward

The form should be easily understood by users without them thinking twice. The users may not want to complete the form if they find it tedious or difficult to understand. Here are some of the best practices:

• Use standard labels: The labels should be clear and easy to understand, avoid using jargon as most users may not understand them
• Provide placeholders: Include placeholders to guide for users to understand what the input fields are for
• Request only relevant information: Instead of requiring users to include unnecessary information, only request important so that users can quickly complete the form

3. Create a single-column form layout

Instead of having multiple columns, using a single column allows users to focus and digest the information easily. It prevents users from getting confused and missing out any field as a single column provides a simple vertical flow. Single-column form also allows the users to fill it out more quickly, increasing the probability of them to submit it. Check out this useful advice for single-column layouts:

• Ensure it’s mobile-friendly: The single-column form should automatically adjust accordingly to the various screen sizes
• Use short, concise labels or text: Since it’s a single column, try to include simple and short labels and text to prevent a large wall of text, making it hard to read

4. Group related fields together

Grouping related input fields into specific sections is one of the web form design best practices in 2025 as it helps users to digest information easily. Here are some recommended tips:

• Group according to topics: You can group the input fields under topics such as contact information or payment information. Don’t forget to add in the necessary heading or label for the group
• Use dividers or section headers: You can also consider separating each input field into several sections with headers or dividers

5. Display errors appropriately

Getting errors while filling out web forms can be frustrating for users. Make the process easier for them by displaying errors and guiding them on fixing them. Here are some tips to display them accordingly:

• Include errors next to the input fields: Display the errors next to the input fields instead of at the top or bottom of web forms. 
• Address errors as it happens: Displaying errors immediately after an incorrect input instead of waiting to submit the form for errors will make it easier for the user to address the error and wouldn’t disrupt the user progress flow.
• Clear error messages: Users need to know what mistakes they made to complete the form quickly. Ensure the error messages are easy to understand and provide guidance to fix the mistakes.

6. Enable the autocomplete functionality

Users will find it tedious to type every field one by one. Therefore, make it easier for them to fill out forms by suggesting some of the inputs based on their previous form submissions. Here are some implementations to consider:

• Include ‘autocomplete’ in your HTML code: This allows browsers to autocomplete the inputs based on the user’s previous submissions or entries
• Allow autofill and auto-suggestions: This will predict the text for common inputs such as name, email and contact number

7. Optimize the form for mobile

Most users will fill out forms using mobile devices instead of desktops or laptops. This means that web forms should be designed to have mobile users in mind and include mobile-friendly features. Here are some of the tips to include for your web form:

• Responsive layout: The web form layout should automatically adjust accordingly to various screen sizes such as using CSS media queries to prevent users from horizontal scrolling
• Large and clear elements: Ensure the elements can easily be tapped on mobile screens and include appropriate spacing between the elements to prevent incorrect tapping
• Input types for mobile devices: Include input types such as date pickers or telephone input which triggers the phone number keypad, allowing mobile users to type easily.

8. Implement security features

These days, it’s easy for hackers or spammers to fill out web forms. Besides that, genuine users may hesitate to fill out forms as they are worried about their information getting leaked or compromised. Therefore, it’s important to implement some security and privacy measures on web forms. Here are some recommendations:

• CAPTCHA or reCAPTCHA: You can include CAPTCHA or reCAPTCHA to filter out spambots and reduce spam
• Request for authentication: You can opt users to confirm their identity by sending a code through phone or email
• Strong requirements for passwords: To ensure the users are legit and quality submissions, include strong password requirements such as minimum length, special characters and a mix of uppercase or lowercase. 

9. Allow accessibility

One of the important web form design best practices is to cater for all types of individuals, including those with disabilities. Here are some of the ways on how you can implement accessibility on your web forms: 

• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA): This helps to support those who use screen readers by providing instructions
• Descriptive labels: Ensure the labels for all input fields are clear and descriptive, including error messages
• Allow keyboard navigation: This allows users to navigate the form using the keyboard instead of a mouse. 

10. Include progress indicators

Another great practice while creating web forms would be to include progress indicators. There are a few main types of progress indicators which are linear, breadcrumb indicators, or inline validation. 

Linear indicators are just a simple bar which shows the progress from the start until the end while breadcrumb indicators allow users to click on the links/steps. Inline validation is used to show the data that the users filled in the form is correct. Just like showing error right after user’s filled in an incorrect data in a field, showing them that the data is correct such as by placing a small ‘tick’ sign beside the field can also act as an effective progress indicator.

Here are some helpful tips when including progress indicators: 

• Clear labels: The labels should easily be understood at first glance and clearly state which steps the user is currently on
• Use visual elements accordingly: Include icons (if appropriate) and suitable colors which enable users to read and understand easily
• Simplicity is key: Ensure the design is simple and easy to understand

Conclusion

To conclude, implementing these web form design best practices on your website does wonders for your business. Consider improving the design of your forms and watch how your conversions increase. Get to know other ways to improve your website by learning about good UX design and how it positively influences a website.