Smart Defaults

Consider a phone number field on a registration form. It’s usually a simple text field. By just seeing a text field,  user might not know, in which format the data needs to be entered in. User might simply enter country  code, area code, followed by phone number or stick to a format that the error message might convey (if you are lucky). In short, users might go wrong many times, due to incorrect format or unknown validations coded into the product by programmers. In few cases, text field might allow alphabetic characters into phone field, paving way for more errors from users, for which users get into 'False Game'.

Whatsapp is one app which makes entering phone numbers easy. If you access the app from India, the country code is pre-filled based on location services by default. In case user wants to change it, he can delete current value and enter a new one. Additionally, country code field is separated from phone number providing visual cue to user on the format of the phone number expected. This is much simpler as ‘+91’ makes user’s job, not just easy, but lessens the number of steps as well. Whatsapp smartly defaults the right value into the country code field, whilst allowing users to modify it if they like to, specially, let’s say, if they are traveling to a new country.

In Luke Wroblewski’s words,

“Smart defaults are selections put in place to provide answers to questions for you. This enables people to complete forms faster. Every question we ask people requires them to parse it, formulate a response, and then input their answer into the affordance provided on the form.”

What's your take on smart defaults? 

"Best defaults are those that suit users most of the time."

Smart Defaults

In Luke Wroblewski’s words,