[IxDA Discuss] 'Select Country' dropdown

[Caroline Jarrett]

In addition to other comments:

I'm currently advising clients like this:

1. Check your databases. It's very likely that 5 to 10 countries 
account for virtually all your traffic.
2. Offer the most popular few countries and 'other' with a box to type 
into.

The apparently 'politically correct' list of just under 200 is more 
problematic than it initially appears:

- countries change official names more often than you might think
- some jurisdictions may or may not appear in the list, e.g. 
Gibraltar, depending on whether the list is being used for geographic, 
postal, administrative or some other reason
- the official name may be different from the commonly used name e.g. 
Republic of Korea / Korea
- people have strong views about the country they live in, e.g. some 
people who live in Scotland may have their own reasons for preferring 
'Scotland' to UK
- even if they agree with the geographical boundary, they may have 
particular reasons for using one name rather than another e.g. a 
preference for 'Burma' over 'Myanmar' or vice-versa
- the official names themselves aren't always entirely stable. For 
example, there's a country that is still called " the former Yugoslav 
Republic of Macedonia" by the Universal Postal Union (www.upu.int) and 
many other international groupings of countries
- some of the lists include 'countries' that barely justify the name 
e.g. my personal favourite, Wake Island. (My apologies to any Wake 
Islanders if this seems disparaging).

Coming from the UK, I find it's not uncommon to have to play the 'hunt 
my country' game: is it at the top? down at the bottom near to Uganda 
as United Kingdom? Under E for England? Ah ha, someone's put it under 
G for Great Britain! (My view of the 'correct' anwer is that I'd look 
for United Kingdom, for what it's worth). I'm waiting for the day that 
I find it under R for Royaume Uni.

Caroline Jarrett
caroline.jarrett at effortmark.co.uk
01525 370379

Effortmark Ltd
Usability - Forms - Content

From: "Billy Cox" <billy at oldworldspices.com>

: In filling out various web forms, I have noticed two interaction 
standards
: specifically related to dropdowns in which the user selects their 
country of
: residence.
:
: 1 -- List is alphabetical (placing United States near the end of the 
list)
:
: 2 -- Most likely selection(s) at the top of the list, with remainder 
of list
: alphabetical.
:
: Which one would you use and what would influence your decision?
:
:
: Billy Cox
: Old World Spices
: billy at oldworldspices.com
:
:
:
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