Tip #16: Master the art of filling up forms

What if you could jump from field to field?

We spend most of our time on the Internet, and often we need to fill up forms online, especially when logging in to websites. Some websites' registration forms have tens, if not more fields for you to fill up. As mentioned in this previous tip, shifting one hand back and forth between the mouse and keyboard slows you down. To be able to fill forms more quickly, we will need to eliminate this inter-keyboard-and-mouse switching.

This tip should apply to any browser on any operating system. If something doesn't work for you, please let me know so I can help you find a solution for it.

For you to follow along, I have created a dummy form right here for you to try out the keyboard shortcuts as you read!

To begin, click on the first field below to give it focus. When a field has focus, it is in a selected state, meaning you can change it e.g. by typing something in it. If you accidentally lose focus of (unselect) a form field (i.e. you accidentally clicked somewhere else on the page), just click on a field to give focus to it once more.

Enter your first name:	This is a text field. After typing your name, press the Tab key to jump to the next field.
Enter your last name:	You can jump backwards to the previous field by pressing Shift + Tab. Try it now, then jump forwards twice to the next field.
You are: Choose gender: Male Female	This is a combo box, aka pull-down menu. Press Up/Down keys to choose your gender. Mac OS X will show the list of genders when you press Up/Down, however Windows won't. To show the list in Windows, you need to click using your mouse (if you know the keyboard shortcut, please tell me!) To confirm your choice when the list is shown, press Enter/Return. Now Tab on to the next field.
Select your country: Select Country United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe	This is another combo box, except with 200+ choices this time. To quickly select your country, type the country name while the combo box is selected. e.g. to choose "Germany", type G E R, and you should be there. Press Tab when you're done! NOTE! There seems to be a problem with this in Mac OS X - pressing Tab now will skip the next two fields (age and characteristics) and bring you to the message box. I am going to try and find out what's the problem here. For now please bear with it and click on the radio buttons and checkboxes using your mouse.
Your age? Below 18 18 - 30 Above 30	This is a group of radio buttons, they are just like combo boxes, except that all the options are always shown. Press Up/Down or Left/Right to select your age group. Then press Tab again.
Tick all which apply: Tall Pretty Clever Strong	Here are some checkboxes. You can tick or untick a checkbox by pressing Space when the checkbox has focus. Like all the previous form elements, you can Tab or Shift + Tab from one checkbox to another.
Type anything you would like to say:	This is a text area. It's actually a bigger text field, which you can press Enter/Return in it to create a newline. Press Tab to jump to the final form element!
Click this button to submit the form:	To press this button without using your mouse, press Space or Enter/Return. Don't worry, your data won't be sent to anywhere (trust me!) Go ahead and press it to make something appear...

That's it! You have now mastered the art of filling up online forms!