Form Design Basic Guidelines

Forms are the main way for users to interact with your scripts. So it's very important to make them the right way that users can easily comprehend. There are some basic usability guidelines you should follow whenn you create forms

• Use stylesheets to lay the elements out. You can also use tables, but I don't think using tables for elements placement is not a good practice, unless your data is tabular.
• Mark required fields with bold, or text color, or different background color on the input fields
• If there's an error within a field, put a notice text next to it so users realize that there's a problem and know where's the problem
• Put a size limit on text box to avoid too much text entered by user especially when your database has field length limit
• If you split your form to pages, let the users know how far they are in the process of form submission, e.g., "Page 3 of 5." This lets users know where they stand at all times, without leaving them wondering, "Will this next button complete my registration, or are there stil more pages to come?"

Hope it helps.