I've been trying to design a taxi booking form specifically for taxis to and from the airport. After many hours at the keyboard, my form is not good; the form is complex and complicated due to the number of variables. I keep loosing my place/train of thought and having to add and/or adjust on the fly. Is there a logical approach to form design? Is there a flow chart type design aid. Any help greatly appreciated.
With every form needing to meet different needs, there isn't a unified method. However, if you describe for us what you're trying to accomplish, maybe we or the comunnity could outline some tips on what to do?
Hello, It is very easy to think of everything that you need and want to have on the form all at once. It is easy to keep adding, I am very guilty of that myself. There are several ways to go about making a form and I'm sure a different way works best for everyone.
Start with the most important aspects. Use the outline tool to drag and drop the fields into sections, the folder sections do not effect the layout and do well as an organizational tool allowing you to collapse and expand them to narrow your concentration. You can also place sections within sections.
You may want to remove everything except the vaiable fields and concentrate on only the variables and formulas within the form. Once they are working, then add in the other fields. You could store the other fields that do not have a function in another section so you do not have to recreate them all, then drag them back into place.
You may not want to add the conditionals in until last so you continue to see the form in full. If you are using conditionals, try applying them to sections instead of individual fields.
Can you break it down in to multiple forms making each have it's own purpose? Always ask yourself if you have overbuilt the form, do you really need all that you have?
If you would like us to take a closer look at your form, please submit a support request with the form link and we would be happy to give suggestions. Hillary