atw: Re: Online form advice
- From: bloss oliver-skuse <ivegotyourpuppy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 12:04:24 +1000
Thanks for this Christine! I've quite liked what can be done with Survey Monkey
but so far, and it's good to hear that it passes the paranoid organisation
security confidence test.
I have to say Adobe Forms Central has performed pretty well, too. It is
surprisingly user-friendly for Adobe, behaves a lot like SM but with a couple
of additional features, and looks a bit posher than both SM and Google Docs.
I agree Word is a last resort if nothing else works. The only customisation I
can work out with a Word form is linking macros to fields. I tried creating
autotext macros to insert a new field when a particular option was selected
(e.g. if they select the 'no' option, a text field is inserted asking them to
provide an explanation) but this is a pretty crude tool and the formwould
become a total mess very quickly if not completed absolutely precisely (without
tabbing through response fields).
Thanks again for the advice.
Bloss
From: cmkentau@xxxxxxxxx
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Online form advice
Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 07:25:40 +0100
I can’t help with comparing like with like, but certainly Survey Monkey is easy
both to set up and complete. However, I have no idea if it is possible/how
easy it is to organise automatic data transfer. It extracts good statistics,
and I would imagine it can generate simple data files, but I have always used
the results manually. I used Survey Monkey while working for a very
conservative company paranoid about security, so if it got past their
technophobes it is probably OK.
I tend to avoid all Adobe applications of every kind because if they can make
something difficult, they will. Sheer prejudice of course, but each time I
have over-ruled my prejudice it has been to my cost. Reliable and safe but
difficult sums up Adobe products.
And we all know that reliability is not a Microsoft strong suit. I would sum
Microsoft up as flashy and imaginative, but unreliable.
I would start with Survey Monkey to set your standards and then test the others
to see how they compare.
Christine
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of bloss oliver-skuse
Sent: Tuesday, 14 May 2013 12:57 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Online form advice
Hi austechies,
I am hoping for a bit of advice about creating forms using fairly basic tools.
I need to create an application form as part of a pilot program. After the
pilot program the organisation will invest in setting up a proper online
process (using a similar setup to their recruitment portal). However, I need a
bit of a cheap and cheerful (or is it quick and dirty?) solution at the moment
because timing has been changed dramatically and suddenly this needs to be
rushed.
The form will be submitted electronically and would ideally:
Allow me to use custom logics to build in different response streams. (I would
like to be able to ask a different set of questions depending on applicants’
response to a couple of key questions. The trick here is that the membership
type will be different depending on some of the responses but this is only an
administrative distinction on our end and they do not get to choose which
membership type they apply for, so we would not want to make the application
pathway too obvious for each membership type)
Allow multiple users to work on the same application form (i.e. admin staff may
need to complete the bulk of the form on behalf of the applicants, and then
individual applicants would need to complete the rest of their forms
themselves)
Be easy to save (both allowing the applicant to save progress while completing
the form and allowing our admin to save each individual response on file)
Be suitable for completion on a range of devices
Be largely idiot-proof (on our end and applicants’ – so forms need to be easy
to retrieve and data easy enough to copy into our database, and they need to be
easy enough for people with relatively low computer literacy to complete and
submit)
Be secure.
I am seeing what I can do with Adobe FormsCentral, Survey Monkey, Acrobat Pro
and MS Word. Does anyone on the list have any suggestions, tips or comments?
Cheers,
Bloss
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