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When you're trying to learn a new topic, navigating your way through the mountain of web development resources available can seem like a daunting task -- how do you choose which books to read? Which course to take? And in what order? So to help you out, we're providing hand-picked recommendations covering various topics, all available now in SitePoint Premium for just $9/month.

A recent study found, that on average, designing a form to have a great user experience almost doubled the rate of successful first-time completions. For example, eBay made an additional $USD 500 million annually from redesigning a button on one of their mobile form screens.

More conversions, fewer dissatisfied users, better return on investment. Can you afford not to improve the forms in your sites and apps? Let's take a look at some of the titles in the SitePoint Premium library that will help you design better froms.

Designing UX: Forms

by Jessica Enders

I've placed this excellent book at the top of my list as it explains the fundamentals of good form design, focusing on user experience. It will take you through every part of designing a great forms UX. From the words in the form, to how the form looks, and on to interactivity, you’ll learn how to design an easy-to-understand web form that works everywhere, for all of your users. It's also packed with insights and real-world examples of form design, both good and bad.

It's a must-read for understanding good form design. Even if you're an experienced designer, you'll be sure to pick up some useful nuggets in this book.

Form Design Patterns

by Adam Silver

This book builds upon the knowledge gained in Designing UX: Forms by providing you with an extensive collection of form patterns that you can use as best-practice, real-world starting points for your own forms. From registration forms to login forms to checkout forms, and much more besides, this book has you covered.

CSS Grid Layout: 5 Practical Projects

by Various Authors

Now that we've had a look at form design fundamentals, it's time to look at how we go about actually implementing a form design. CSS Grid Layout: 5 Practical Projects contains a selection useful CSS Grid projects, but for the purposes of this list, Chapter 5, Make Forms Great with CSS by Craig Buckler, is the most interesting. It outlines how CSS Grid can be used to solve some of the issues most commonly associated with building web forms.

JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, 2nd Edition

by Darren Jones

A form won't do anything unless it works with some code, whether that is on the front end or the back end. In Chapter 8 of JavaScript: Novice to Ninja, Darren Jones discusses how forms can be used to interact with a JavaScript program.

Building Better Forms in React Native Using Expo, React Hooks, Formal and Yup

by Akshay Kadam

Finally, if you're building forms using React Native, you'll know that it can be a cumbersome and repetitive task that requires the generation of lots of boilerplate code. In this short book, Akshay Kadam will show you can use Expo, React Hooks, Formal and Yup to build forms more quickly and with a lot less boilerplate. You'll also see how to validate the form using Node.js and Express.

Start your subscription today and you'll get access to these books, plus 300+ other web design and development books in SitePoint Premium!

Until next time,

James at SitePoint