Departure Dates

The Oberammergau Booking Form asks each customer which departure date they want.

It can also ask for an alternative date, in case their first pick is full.

This page explains how those two questions behave, and why.

The two date questions

Preferred departure date

This question must be answered.

It lists every departure date on the tour page that has not already passed.

Alternative departure date (optional)

This question can be left blank.

It sits under a short hint:

If your preferred date is full, we’ll try to book you on this one

The hint tells the customer why the question is there. That is what makes an optional question make sense.

How they behave

The alternative list never offers the preferred date

Once a customer picks their preferred date, that date is removed from the alternative list.

Offering the same date twice tells us nothing. The alternative only helps if it is a different date.

If the customer then changes their preferred date to match the alternative they already picked, the alternative goes back to blank.

One date left: no alternative question

If the tour page has only one departure date left, the alternative question is not shown at all.

There is nothing to choose, so asking would only confuse.

The wording “Preferred departure date” still reads correctly on its own. The old wording, “1st choice”, did not.

Why we built it this way

We followed the GOV.UK Design System. It is the UK government’s guide to forms, built on years of testing with real users, and it is widely used as the standard for accessible forms.

“(optional)” in the label

GOV.UK’s advice is to add “(optional)” to the label of optional questions:

in most contexts, add ‘(optional)’ to the labels of optional fields

Many people do not notice that an asterisk is missing. Saying “optional” in plain words removes the doubt.

Source: GOV.UK Design System, Question pages

“Preferred” and “alternative”, not “1st” and “2nd”

“1st choice” and “2nd choice” suggest that both must be answered, even with “optional” beside them.

“Preferred” and “alternative” do not. They also still make sense when only one date is left.

A short hint

GOV.UK recommends hint text that is a single short sentence, and warns against long explanations, because screen readers read the whole hint aloud.

Source: GOV.UK Design System, Question pages

Removing the date, not greying it out

We considered leaving the preferred date in the alternative list but greyed out, so it could not be picked.

We chose not to. Greyed-out choices are hard to see and customers cannot tell why they cannot pick them. Screen readers also handle them inconsistently.

GOV.UK gives the same advice about greyed-out buttons:

Disabled buttons have poor contrast and can confuse some users, so avoid them if possible.

Source: GOV.UK Design System, Button

No “No alternative date” option

We considered adding a “No alternative date” choice to the list.

We chose not to. Customers should never have to pick “nothing”. Leaving an optional question blank is enough.

What you can change

You can change the wording of both questions in the backoffice, under Forms:

the question labels
the hint text

If you change the wording, keep “(optional)” on the alternative question, and keep the hint to one short sentence.

What needs a developer

how the two questions behave: removing the date, hiding the alternative, the safety net
the safety net’s message
which dates are offered (these come from the Departure dates on the tour page)
anything else about how the form looks or works