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What is the best way to indicate required fields?
Is a red asterisk beside each field's label enough? Do you also need to explain with words what a red asterisk means?
What if all of the fields are required? Should you still have a red asterisk?
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The "standard" that has evolved is that required fields have an asterisk (*) next to them. Sometimes the asterisk is red to help it stand out a bit.
If your registration form looks like a login form, it's safe to leave the required information out. But if it does include more than the username and the password fields, mark all required fields (including the username and password ones).
In your form builder account, click on any field in your Form Editor to open its Edit Field panel on the left side of the page. Tick the checkbox Required field and an asterisk will appear next to the label of the form field. The field is now required and visitors can't submit the form without filling it in.
*Denotes required field. **Denotes one or the other field is required. It can be confusing to the user as to which one of the fields is required, as the legend is red in color for both single and double asterisk fields.
I think this a pretty subjective question. I personally think that asterisks are pervasive enough that they don't need an explanation, but someone could make the opposite argument I'm sure. I like putting the word "required" in small text next to the required fields. It skirts the first issue and works well with screen readers. For some great examples of how this looks, check out this link:
http://www.noupe.com/how-tos/comment-form-styling.html
Something to avoid is coloring the background of the field itself. I've seen it on some sites and it's totally incompatible with screen readers, can give problems to colorblind visitors, and can even cause problems on poor LCD monitors.
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