Check the real reading order
Review the introduction, question, options, help and next action at a narrow width. A question that looks short on a desktop can become a wall of text on a phone. Keep essential instructions near the relevant control. Labels should remain available after someone begins answering; placeholder text alone can disappear at the moment it is needed.
Use a fictional route
Run through the ordinary path, a skip route and an error state using non-sensitive examples. Check whether a person can return to a previous answer, identify the error and understand whether the form was actually submitted. Do not describe a loading spinner or button click as a stored response. Those are different observations.
Inspect beyond touch
Use keyboard navigation and visible focus, and check meaningful labels and headings. Avoid color-only distinctions between rating choices. Large tap targets and adequate spacing reduce accidental selections, but a visual inspection is not a complete accessibility audit. Where access requirements are material, include appropriate assistive-technology testing and specialist review.
Keep an alternative route
If the survey cannot be used, provide an appropriate existing way to contact the organization. Do not force someone to disclose an access need in a public response. Record the browser, viewport, form version and observed issue when requesting a correction so the problem can be reproduced without real customer data.
Record an actionable defect
“Mobile is bad” is difficult to fix. “At a 390-pixel viewport, the error text appears below the offscreen submit button and focus stays at the top” is a reproducible observation. Include only what was actually seen, along with the browser and form version. After a correction, recheck the affected path and note the result. A single successful device check is not universal compatibility evidence, but it is more useful than declaring the design responsive from a desktop preview alone.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- W3C WAI form labels — Standards and certification reference · w3.org · Publisher independence not verified · checked 2026-10-01