Linked In QnA Should Web Forms Be Designed To Look Like The Paper Form It Is Replacing

When the word “forms” shows up it can mean many different things especially when you take the medium into consideration. The 2 mediums in question for the purposes of this entry are paper and web. Initially, I saw little to no reason to make a web form look like the paper form even though the paper version of the form is the grand parent and has been used by users for years. My initial reasoning for this was that they were two very different mediums with different constraints and capabilities.

The professionals on Linked In had plenty of experience and advice for me that I found very helpful. This post will categorize and present those recomendations so that hopefully they become useful to you as well. To note unless I get an answer that is completely off topic and backwards I am usually very happy to rate it as a good answer because the person took time out of their day to respond to me. With this question I got twenty responses that really sent my head spinning with some of the insights and experiences. Lets get to it. To pick the best answer was tough so I picked the one that provided me with the most unexpected reasons and points that I did not consider.

Best Answer

• How the form looks is just one part of the overall experience of completing the form
• Most people are used to the web presenting things differently so user confusion is not much of a factor.
• The experience of filling out the form matters more than how it looks on initial inspection
• We should be designing web-based forms to make the most of the browser medium
• Legal reasons may require you to make the form look like the paper one
  • 1. If the actual form – and not just the policy it implements – is enshrined in legislation, then every version of that form has to be approved. Having a web form that looks different can mean a whole separate approval process (and therefore additional costs).2. In legal arguments around data, the design of the form that collected data in question – rather than just the data themselves – may be used. Therefore, having a web form that looks different from a paper form may muddy the waters in any legal argument that calls on the design of the data collection instrument.

The above points really show why this was the best answer to me because I never considered the chance of there being legal reasons that a form had to look like the paper version. For the rest of the answers that I received it was a split scattered bunch. Below are the major points that were given to me for making forms look like the paper version.

For The Paper

• People printing out the form, filling it in, and mailing it to the office rather than submit it online
• Users familiar with the form would not use the interview style, preferring the familiarity of their tried and true replicated form
• They’re trying to minimize is the cost of retraining the experienced staff
• At a minimum, the flow of the form (the order of the fields) should be preserved if the paper form has been in use for quite some time
• It will be easier (faster) for people to transfer information from one to the other
• Fewer mistakes will be made if the meanings and locations of the web form items match those on the paper.
• When someone goes back to reference the form, it will have a familiar layout

For Using Web Technologies

• Tightly packed forms that are designed for the constraints of paper can and will be improved by the spacing of a web interface
• The ability to provide on demand help as well as assistance text in places that it was not possible with the paper form.
• Paper reading and screen reading are different so the form should be adjusted for the screen
• The length and complexity of the form should factor into the decision to adjust it especially if completion rate will increase using web tools like auto populate.
• If web users are a different segment that paper users or don’t have a lot of interaction with the paper form redesign the web form.

For A Hybrid Approach

• Only adjust the form slightly where it can help then as users get used to the adjustments continue to ween them away from the paper form
• Start with the paper then roll out a web version along side it. This would provide both versions and keep all users happy.

From this interaction I have learned that the phrase “there is more than one way to skin a cat” truly applies to this scenario. There are definitely compelling reasons to consider when designing a web form based on an existing paper form. The top reason being the effect on the user population.

Tags the new disturbing web usability/readability trend

From what I have seen there is an emerging trend out there in the web world that should have readers and consumers of web content up in arms.  The problem lies between who the consumer of the content is.  However, the issue is not an old one just a different way of using and abusing web content to achieve the same goal.  Our culprit this time is not bold and underlined and linked text, or hidden blocks of keywords.  It’s worse, and has greater impacts on usability as well as readability.  The culprit is what I call the “Glutton Tag Cloud”.  It is a glutton for 2 reasons that both cause consumers problems.  First it eats up screen space with a bulging belly full of tags that in some cases reflect every word in the content as well as synonyms.  The content is left to a sliver of space looking like jack sprat in the corner and stretched out to cause plenty of scrolling.  One concession is that shorter lines do help scanning but excessively short lines also hurt reading.  Then of course there the second issue of becoming meaningless.  I would predict that if “Glutton Tag Clouds” continue to be out there Tags will soon go the way of the dinos.  Extinct as a manner of by which producers can categorize their creations for others so that consumers can find them. 

The reason issue number 2 is so important is based on that very word “important”.  When consumers look for content they are looking for content that addresses particular importance to a few key subjects.  The “Glutton Tag Cloud” on the page sits there to say that everything in this page is important.  The result of that will be that nothing will be considered important.  So when nothing becomes important the ability to rank relevance of the content based on the important topics goes away.  Once that happens The tag cloud will go away and another method of identifying importance or subject matter of content will show up to be exploited I guess.

I would have to think that if your content was that interesting it would not need the Glutton Tag Clouds to get it noticed.  People would find it easily using the system that has been defined.  Don’t go from a content creator to an SEO optimized relayer of garbage.  Keep it real and keep it fresh please.