Forms: downloadable or interactive

An online form is used to collect information or comment from website visitors. Forms are used for everything from feedback to payments to complex surveys.

The alternative to carrying out these transactions online is for the user to download, print out and then fill in a form from your site using pen and paper, and then mail or fax it back to you. A downloadable form of this sort is generally provided as a PDF to best control the layout of the printed document.

Most users are going to prefer to fill in a form while they are on your site, in other words they will prefer online forms over forms they can download. There will be a segment of users who don’t like providing email or credit card details over the web, but increasingly web users are trusting the internet and are prepared to use secure online payment methods.

Information collected in an online form might be sent in email form to an individual, be collected in a database for later perusal, or trigger an automatic action with a payments system. The costs involved with online forms depend on how the data is to be used. The more complex the database requirements the more you’ll need specialist help.

Seek expert advice. Forms design is a special craft. A well-designed form will be easier for people to use and is more likely to be fully and correctly completed by users.