HACKER Q&A
📣 herodoturtle

UX tips for displaying large numbers formatted


For example, in the input field the user enters the raw value as so:

[123456789]

And the formatted equivalent would be:

123,456,789

What is a good UX pattern for showing the user the thousands separators?

I've seen some forms where the commas / spaces are dynamically inserted in the input field (but then users end up trying to type in the commas / spaces manually).

We currently display a formatted preview of the raw input directly next to the input field (and this preview is refreshed onkeyup).

Just wondering what other good UX patterns you've seen that cater for this?

Thanks ^_^


  👤 mmphosis Accepted Answer ✓
Be conservative in what you send; be liberal in what you accept.

Can the text {one hundred and twenty-three million, four hundred and fifty-six thousand, seven hundred and eighty-nine} in any language be dragged into the input field? Can I use operators? (123e6 + o1574125) -- HN removed the trigrams I was going to put in place of .

Consistency. Be boring. Don't do anything.

It depends on the context.

Preferences. Honor preferences. For example, don't automatically start a separate 3D video of the underscores spaced every four Roman numeral unless that's the preference.

This preview is refreshed onkeyup. Please don't do this, unless Preferences. Consider other factors, the context. Ask the people having to use this interface repeatedly, maybe your interface makes perfect sense.