Using a date picker (or calendar control) as the only way to enter a date of birth (DoB) is a really unhelpful trend in online forms.

I urge UI/UX designers to stop and examine why they do this, and for testers to kick back on this issue.

Here’s why…

Date pickers are great for relative dates, such as when booking leave or travel: the exact date is not necessarily known and might be actively being explored. This is why they’ve been in use for years on holiday websites, for example.

However they are an obstruction when entering absolute dates (known, fixed dates). The most egregious example of this is when entering one’s DoB on a form. This is a value etched on our minds and we’re so used to it that we type it as fast as we’re able, without thought, in the date format appropriate to our locale as well. Attempting to select this from a date picker widget (which unhelpfully tends to default to the current date too) is a serious impediment to ease of use and should be shunned.

A simple text field that accepts a date in the local format–clearly labelled as such, eg dd/mm/yy–is all that’s required. If you insist, add a date picker alongside the field as well, but don’t offer it as the only entry point. (I guarantee no-one will use it anyway.)

If you use a date picker for anything other than a DoB, pay attention to the default date. This should be something sensible such as the current date, the date an event starts on, or whatever is appropriate in the context.

Anything that gets in the way of free and flowing navigation and input by your users will irk them. Collectively a lot of small annoyances like these will add up to a poor user experience, even though any single one of them is only a trivial matter.