On Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 3:34 PM, Jessica Enders
<jessica@...> wrote:
> I've been involved in a few debates about this question lately and
> would like to write an article summarising the different positions.
> It would be great if you could spend a few minutes emailing me or
> posting your personal position on the following query:
>
> "As a matter of best practice, should forms on the web be designed to
> look like their paper equivalents? Why/why not?"

You're far more expert at this than me, so my views are very personal
and completely subjective. That said, I did manage a large and very
successful online grants application and management system for the
Department of Industry Tourism and Resources (they have a new name
now) before I joined SMS. The thoughts below mirror a lot of the
thinking we used for that system.

I've seen both approaches done badly and I've seen both approaches
done well. Here's how I view the idea:

- forms on the web should be completed in the same *logical* order as
a paper equivalent, i.e. same fields at the same point in the form
- tab order in a web form is critical. Not every user will tab between
fields, but when it *doesn't work*, it is a major flaw
- for an HTML form, the presentation needn't be exactly like the paper
equivalent, but should be similar as users often have a paper
equivalent at hand
- for a live PDF form (which I have seen done both well, and very,
very badly) the paper form and the web form can and should be exactly
the same
- if you are going to use live PDF, you have an additional requirement
to be super-accurate and make the experience seamless
- delivery of a printed, data-complete form at the end of the process
should *absolutely* look like the printed form

Hope this helps.

Steve
--
Stephen Collins
Cell +61 410 680722
Skype trib22
www.twitter.com/trib
www.linkedin.com/in/stephencollins

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