---
title: Announcing FormLinter
teaser: A tool for making better forms.
tags: formkeep,design,web,news
author: Ben Orenstein
published_on: 2016-11-09
---

Between running
[FormKeep](https://formkeep.com?utm_source=robots-blog&utm_campaign=announcing-formlinter)
and completing dozens of client projects each year, we spend a lot of time
thinking about forms.

Here are a few questions we ask ourselves for each form we write:

- Did we remember to give every input a label? (No, [placeholders are not an
  adequate replacement])
- Do our labels' `for` attributes match our inputs' `id`s?
- Did we take advantage of the `url`, `email`, and `password` input types, or
  did we forget and just use `text`?
- Are our required fields marked as such?

Doing all these things right is worth the effort: improvements like these
improve accessibility and increase conversions. However, checking this sort of
thing by hand is tedious and error-prone.

Important but tedious? Sounds like a job for a program. So we wrote one!

It's called [FormLinter](https://formlinter.com/). Bet you can't guess what it
does. (It lints forms.)

Just supply the URL of a public page containing a form, and we'll do the rest.
We'll show your form's letter grade, a list of issues that hurt your score, and
tips on fixing each one.

![](https://images.thoughtbot.com/bo-formlinter-announce/VWugZe5DTVGHoALGw2AV_linter.png)

Better accessibility, more conversions, and no tedium.

Sound good? [Give it a try](https://formlinter.com/).

[placeholders are not an adequate replacement]: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9157867/placeholder-vs-label-for-input-in-html5