Pipeline form

At first glance, this form doesn't look minimal — and that’s part of the problem.

Too many switches, unclear groupings, and tiny interaction traps make it feel harder than it needs to be.
For a screen that should help you automate things, it ends up demanding too much mental effort.

In this lesson, we’ll go through what’s wrong, what could be simpler, and what we redesigned to make it feel less like a cockpit and more like a tool.

Problems with the current form

Let’s break down what makes this form harder than it should be — and how each detail adds friction.

None of these issues are dealbreakers alone.
But together, they create a feeling of “Wait… what is this even asking me to do?”

We’ll go one piece at a time — from confusing inputs to invisible logic.

Using placeholders as labels

This form uses placeholder text inside the input fields instead of visible labels.

It looks clean — until the user starts typing. Then the placeholder disappears, and so does the context.
Now they have to guess what the field was about.

For short forms it’s annoying.
For something like pipeline setup — where you configure posting logic across platforms — it’s a recipe for mistakes.

Also:

• Placeholders usually have low contrast, so they’re hard to see
• They’re not read by screen readers — which kills accessibility
• Some users may mistake them for already-filled values

Unnecessary details

This part of the form shows icons for every supported social network — regardless of which ones you're actually using.

It doesn’t help you make a choice.
It doesn’t explain anything.
It’s just… showing off.

Your actual connected accounts are already listed on the right.
So what’s the point of this lineup on the left?

Maybe it’s meant to say: “Look how much we support!”
But in a form where users need clarity and focus, that kind of flex just becomes noise.

Hidden hints

Some of the important explanations in this form are hidden behind tiny question marks.

It may seem “clean” from a UI perspective — but from a user perspective, it’s just frustrating.

These toggles and options look cryptic by default.
And if someone doesn’t know what “Keep queuing order” or “Automatic URL Tracking” means — they have to guess, or go on a hunt for answers.

That’s not helpful. That’s just lazy UI.

The flow

Look at the image below.

It shows the same form — but depending on which radio button is selected, the content below changes.
And not in a cute, “oh look a tooltip!” kind of way — we’re talking massive layout shifts.

The problem is simple: the radio button determines the structure of the whole form.
That means every time you change it, entire sections jump around — often unpredictably.
Sometimes even with data loss.

Imagine you're trying to make a purchase, and the payment fields vanish because you dared to click the wrong option.
It’s not just frustrating — it erodes user trust.

In setups like this, we should flip the logic.
Ask for the most important info first — like the pipeline type — and only show extra fields once that’s known.

New Form

The redesigned pipeline form keeps everything users need — but strips away the clutter, confusion, and hidden logic.

Across all three versions (Regular, RSS, and Quotes), we made a few core changes:

• The pipeline type is now selected at the top of the form — using large, clickable buttons with icons. This not only reflects how the logic flows, but also improves usability by increasing the clickable area.
• We replaced all switches with checkboxes, since changes aren’t applied instantly — they’re saved together at the end.
• All labels are now visible. No more placeholder-only fields.
• The layout is mostly single-column, to guide the user’s eye down the form naturally.
• We removed all the static social network icons. Only the relevant accounts (on the right) are shown.
• Explanations are now inline, instead of hidden behind tooltips.
• Input field sizes suggest the type of data expected — e.g. narrow fields for "Posts per day".

Regular pipeline

This is the default form.

We added a visible label for the account selector, renamed the “Save” button to Save Pipeline for clarity, and ensured spacing and grouping reflect the user’s actual decision flow.

RSS pipeline

We renamed the “Detect” button to Verify the feed link — to make its function clearer.
The rest of the fields reuse the same layout and improvements from the regular pipeline.

Quotes pipeline

Instead of a dropdown for choosing a quote category, we show all options as selectable buttons — since there are only a few, and it’s faster to pick visually.

This form isn’t “final.”
Some smaller elements (like date pickers, field validation, or conditional inputs) are still in progress — and we’ll cover them in later chapters.

But the foundation is here: a cleaner, more usable form that matches the actual mental model of how users think about publishing.