Currency amount

Follow this pattern whenever you need to display or ask users for an amount of money.

How to ask

Use a text input to allow users input the amount of money. Consider using an appropriately-sized text input, depending on the maximum length of the desired input.

If you only allow whole numbers, use set the inputmode attribute to numeric to use the numeric keypad on devices with on-screen keyboards instead of type=”number”.

Example for whole numbers

Sample HTML Code

<form action="" class="govcy-form" novalidate> 
    <div class="govcy-form-control"> 
        <label class="govcy-label" for="in1">Enter your income (€)</label>  
        <input type="text" spellcheck="false" pattern="[0-9]*" inputmode="numeric" class="govcy-text-input govcy-text-input-char_20" maxlength="20" id="in1">  
    </div> 
</form>

If you allow decimal numbers, use type=”text”. Do not set the inputmode attribute to decimal as it causes some devices to bring up a keypad without a key for the decimal separator.

Example for decimal numbers

Sample HTML Code

<form action="" class="govcy-form" novalidate> 
    <div class="govcy-form-control"> 
        <label class="govcy-label" for="in2">Enter your income (€)</label>  
        <input type="text" spellcheck="false" class="govcy-text-input govcy-text-input-char_20" maxlength="20" id="in2">  
    </div> 
</form>

Allow the user to enter numbers with or without:

comma “,” as decimals separator (if allowed by the service)

When validating the amount, ignore leading and ending spaces and make sure to ignore these characters when converting the amount to a number.

If your service does not allow decimals, consider if it is appropriate to allow decimals on user input and round up or down any amounts before validating and storing.

Only allow the user to enter whole numbers, or numbers with one or 2 decimal places, for example, 10, 10,4 or 10,40. Do not allow numbers with more than 2 decimal places.

For example, the following are valid amounts:

123456
123456,12
1234567
12
123,2
125

Displaying currency amounts

When displaying stored or summitted amounts of money, they should start with the currency sign (for example “€” for EUR) and then the amount. The amount should be displayed with digit grouping separators (i.e. using “.” to separate thousands, millions and so on). If your service allows decimals (for example cents) display 2 decimal places.

For example:

€123.456
€1.234.567
€123.456.789,12
€123,20
€12

Screen readers have trouble recognizing the thousands and decimal separators in conjunction with a currency sign. When displaying the amounts, use a combination of aria-label and aria-hidden=”true” to help screen readers read the amount as a number. In aria-label the whole part of the amount should be written as integer and the digits part written as cents. For example:

In English

<div aria-label="1234566 euros and 30 cents">  
	<p aria-hidden="true">€1.234.566,30</p>  
</div>

In Greek

<div aria-label="1234566 ευρώ και 30 σεντ">  
	<p aria-hidden="true">€1.234.566,30</p>  
</div>

When filling up stored or submitted amounts of money within text inputs, they should appear in the form that is appropriate for input, without digit grouping separators (i.e. using “.” to separate thousands, millions and so on) and 2 decimal places.

Example of filled up currency amount inputs:

Contribute

If you have used or researched this pattern, please et us know what you found so we can make it better for everyone. Send us an email at dsf@dits.dmrid.gov.cy to get in touch.

We are particularly interested in:

research on screen readers