Its been a general practice to reconfirm the critical data input from user to eliminate
typing errors. Fields like new password, bank account numbers for money transfer, credit
card fund transfer etc. where flow leads to an action difficult / not possible to undo
requires higher alertness and error proofing on user side. To address this issue at
interaction level a re-enter input concept is commonly used. With the changing user
behavior, a simple re-entering field is not sufficient. User enters the data in the first
field and then re-enters it by referring the first one. The entire purpose of over coming
the typing error is thus forfeited.
The recently popular design of masking the first field seems to address this issue. Since
the first field is masked (similar to password field user), user is restrained from using
it as reference for re-entering the input. A visible second field (re-enter field) thus
requires to be filled using the main reference which is the intent of design. Also visible
data on the second field allows user to cross-check the data entered.
Disabling the copy & past functionality in these fields is also important to cover all the
possible error points.
These practices are in use and while designing it is the job of interaction designer to
evaluate and make the best decision.
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| Fig: Reconfirm account number for fund transfer |
