diff --git a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/forms.py b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/forms.py
index 355477c..dcdfe0b 100644
--- a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/forms.py
+++ b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/forms.py
@@ -203,15 +203,15 @@ class RecordForm(forms.SelfHandlingForm):
         label=_("Record Type"),
         required=False,
         choices=[
-            ('a', _('A')),
-            ('aaaa', _('AAAA')),
-            ('cname', _('CNAME')),
-            ('mx', _('MX')),
-            ('ptr', _('PTR')),
-            ('spf', _('SPF')),
-            ('srv', _('SRV')),
-            ('sshfp', _('SSHFP')),
-            ('txt', _('TXT')),
+            ('a', _('A - Address record')),
+            ('aaaa', _('AAAA - IPv6 address record')),
+            ('cname', _('CNAME - Canonical name record')),
+            ('mx', _('MX - Mail exchange record')),
+            ('ptr', _('PTR - Pointer record')),
+            ('spf', _('SPF - Sender Policy Framework')),
+            ('srv', _('SRV - Service locator')),
+            ('sshfp', _('SSHFP - SSH Public Key Fingerprint')),
+            ('txt', _('TXT - Text record')),
         ],
         widget=forms.Select(attrs={
             'class': 'switchable',
@@ -338,7 +338,9 @@ class RecordForm(forms.SelfHandlingForm):
             else:
                 if not re.match(WILDCARD_DOMAIN_NAME_REGEX,
                                 cleaned_data['name']):
-                    self._add_field_error('name', _('Enter a valid hostname'))
+                    self._add_field_error('name', _('Enter a valid hostname.'
+                                                    ' The hostname should end'
+                                                    ' with a period.'))
                 elif not cleaned_data['name'].endswith(domain_name):
                     self._add_field_error(
                         'name',
diff --git a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_create_record.html b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_create_record.html
index ef9bdc3..605222e 100644
--- a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_create_record.html
+++ b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_create_record.html
@@ -7,15 +7,19 @@
 {% block modal_id %}create_record_modal{% endblock %}
 {% block modal-header %}{% trans "Create Record for" %} {{ domain.name }}{% endblock %}
 
-{% block modal-body %}
-  <div class="full">
-    <fieldset>
-      {% include "horizon/common/_form_fields.html" %}
-    </fieldset>
-  </div>
-{% endblock %}
-
-{% block modal-footer %}
-  <input class="btn btn-primary pull-right" type="submit" value="{% trans "Create Domain Record" %}" />
-  <a href="{% url 'horizon:project:dns_domains:records' domain.id %}" class="btn secondary cancel close">{% trans "Cancel" %}</a>
+{% block modal-body-right %}
+  <h3>{% trans "Description:" %}</h3>
+  {% blocktrans %}
+  <p>
+     <strong>Please note:</strong>
+    For record types, the name <strong>must</strong> end with a period.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+    <strong>TTL</strong>
+    The TTL is the time-to-live for the record, in seconds.
+  </p>
+  <p>
+    See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DNS_record_types" target="_designate_record_defs">more info</a> on record types.
+  </p>
+  {% endblocktrans %}
 {% endblock %}
diff --git a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_update_record.html b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_update_record.html
index 65b8fda..4344f36 100644
--- a/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_update_record.html
+++ b/designatedashboard/dashboards/project/dns_domains/templates/dns_domains/_update_record.html
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{% extends "horizon/common/_modal_form.html" %}
+{% extends "project/dns_domains/_create_record.html" %}
 {% load i18n %}
 {% load url from future %}
 
@@ -7,15 +7,3 @@
 
 {% block modal-header %}{% trans "Update Domain Record" %}{% endblock %}
 
-{% block modal-body %}
-  <div class="full">
-    <fieldset>
-    {% include "horizon/common/_form_fields.html" %}
-    </fieldset>
-  </div>
-{% endblock %}
-
-{% block modal-footer %}
-  <input class="btn btn-primary pull-right" type="submit" value="{% trans "Update Domain Record" %}" />
-  <a href="{% url 'horizon:project:dns_domains:records' record.domain_id %}" class="btn secondary cancel close">{% trans "Cancel" %}</a>
-{% endblock %}