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Library, Information and Technology Services

Web Services

Forms for the Web

There are three basic types of forms that can be made available via the Web:

An electronic form.
A Web page form that can be printed.
A Word (or other file) that must be downloaded and opened within a specific program to be completed.

Electronic Form

This is the best of the three methods. This format should be used whenever possible.

An electronically submitted form will be filled out by the user on-line and received by e-mail. It is a very quick and convenient way to collect information that is pretty accessible to anyone with access to the Web.
Example:

However, there are some instances when this form can not be used. For example, if a signature is required, or diagrams need to be included, or if the information on the form is highly sensitive then this method would not be desirable.

For information on creating this type of form, visit the Form2Mail CGI page or contact webmaster@brockport.edu.

A Web page form

This is the least elegant of all the solutions. It could be done several ways, but would typically look something like:

Name: _______________________ Date: ___________________
Address: ___________________________________________________
Comment: ___________________________________________________

The user would print the Web page from their browser, fill out the form and submit it on paper.

The chief drawbacks are that the form will print different for each person depending on their printer and other settings, and even at its best it looks pretty amateurish.

The main pluses are that it is very easy to do and will be instantly available to everyone who has access to the Web, even those with text-only browsers.

For help with creating this type of form, contact webmaster@brockport.edu.

Word form templates

One solution to create relatively professional-looking forms suitable for printing, is to create the form in Word and make it available for downloading via the Web. The user would then need to open the form in Word (some browser settings allow you do this automatically). Once open, the form could then be printed and filled out by hand, or actually filled out from within Word, then printed.

The drawback is that the user must have Word installed on their PC, and the form will still need to be submitted on paper.

The pluses are that most offices on campus currently use Word, and the form will appear relatively identical to every user.

For information on creating this type of form, contact webmaster@brockport.edu.

For help selecting the type of form that best suits your needs, or for assistance in actually creating a form for use on a Web site, please feel free to contact the SUNY Brockport Webmaster at webmaster@brockport.edu.