Creating Online Forms to Collect Data

Transcription

1 Creating Online Forms to Collect Data They're easy to create, and can save time and paper CMS Training Session 2

2 Topics we ll cover 1. What can forms be used for? 2. Advantages of using forms 3. How do I start? 4. Field options 5. Field question editor 6. The Excel file 7. Guidelines, Recommendations & advanced stuff

3 Editor I m using I m using the RadAjax Editor I ve tied all of them, this seems the best to me. You can check to see what you re using on your My Page

4 1. What can forms be used for?

5 What can forms be used for? Sending from a web page

6 What can forms be used for? Collecting Data

7 What can forms be used for? Ordering or requesting

8 What can forms be used for? RSVPs

9 What can forms be used for? Feedback

10 What can forms be used for? Image/file uploading

11 What can forms be used for? And more

12 2. Advantages of using forms

13 Advantages O Easy to create requires NO programming skills O Site visitors are already familiar with forms they are simple to use O Fast to create O Reliable O Can be made secure (https) O Integrates with our site (looks the same) O Provides data in a flexible format (Excel file) O s sent out are attractive and simple O Can save paper data is saved digitally

14 3. How do I start?

15 How do I start? The form is a survey pagetype in the CMS 1. From the Childpage button in the top navigation, hover and select Survey from the drop down

16 How do I start? 1. Or, in edit mode, create a new page in the Child Page tab hover over New :

17 How do I start? 2. Complete the basic info in the page summary:

18 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area

19 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Survey To: O Enter an address if you want each submission to be sent via to this address (e.g. when using the form as an tool)

20 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Survey From: O If a response is being sent back to the person completing the form, a From can be entered here otherwise it will come from the default CMS O Not always necessary to complete this area

21 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Enable Submission Preview: O If you want the user to view their responses before hitting submit, check this off

22 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Response Limit, Message: O Ignore completely only used if you want only 10 people allowed to complete form (e.g. if you had a contest for the first 10 to enter win )

23 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Response Errors and Error Message: Check off Response Errors Shown in Alert. If you have made some fields required and someone tries to submit without completing, or a field has been completed incorrectly (e.g. have asked for an , but they didn t remember the.ca ) it will show a message box asking them for that info.

24 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Include a CAPTCHA: O Can be used but test first I ve found they can be really hard to decipher! The CAPTCHA stands for: Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

25 How do I start? 3. Complete the survey properties area Response in: O If you have entered an address to send to select HTML option O s are well formatted O Note: We can t change the text: Survey Information and Survey Response in the one downfall of the system

26 How do I start? 4. Add introductory text, if needed O You can add text before the questions start

27 How do I start? 4. Add conclusion text, if needed O You can add text after the questions end

28 How do I start? 5. Add thank you text visible AFTER form is submitted

29 How do I start? 5. The user can also be directed to a different page once they submit O Used in a few instances e.g. tours pages O Useful if you want a standard message for a large number of forms O Ask Joe or Katherine for assistance

30 4. Field options

31 Building your field questions O Fields can be either required or not required: O The default is not required O To make a field require, check off the Response Required box O Required fields will give an error if the user tries to submit without completing them

32 Building your field questions If you are working on a NEW page, before you can begin to create questions you must save or publish your page O Hover over the new button to select a field option

33 Building your field questions Text Input field O Text Area (Single line) - enter maximum number of characters (I often use 100 just to be safe) - but, can limit to a specific number if you have one eg. 4 O Text Area O Enter the number of lines O Allows for larger amounts of text

34 Building your field questions Phone Number field O Phone - user enters a phone number - number of characters must be indicated I often enter a higher number to allow for spaces

35 Building your field questions Check box vs Radio button fields O Checkbox - allows for multiple selections O Radio Button - allows for single selection

36 Building your field questions List fields O Drop down list - allows for single selection - options are visible when drop down area is clicked O List - option for single selection only, or multiple selections

37 Building your field questions Date and time fields O Date only - allows for selection of date O Date and Time - allows for selection of date and time (24 hour)

38 Building your field questions Rank fields O Rank - allows for items to be ranked

39 Building your field questions field O field - user enters an address in correct format - must enter a correct address here the.ca was omitted error message will appear

40 Building your field questions More options O results - user enters an address copy of the form will be ed to them - useful if you want them to have a copy for reference - actual field looks the same as a regular field O results from - user enters an address if the form is being submitted to you or someone, the will come in FROM the address in this field default is a generic CMS account OR if it was entered in the Survey Properties area (See screen 19) Both of these options appear like a regular field

41 Building your field questions File attachment option O Attachment - user can attach a document that will be available to the page editor via the Excel file (see next section) or, as a link in the if that has been set up - type of file(s) accepted must be indicated O If you re getting an for submissions, the file will be a link:

42 Building your field questions File attachment option O Attachment - user can attach a document that will be available to the page editor via the Excel file (see next section) or, as a link in the if that has been set up - type of file(s) accepted must be indicated O If you re getting an for submissions, the file will be a link:

43 5. Field question editor

44 Field question editor The editor overview: Question type can be changed in this view

45 Field question editor Question Text appears with the field when the page is viewed:

46 Field question editor Question placement is either Top or Left O Default is Left : O Top may work better, depending on your questions

47 Field question editor O For questions that have answer options, they re entered here: O Click Add Answer to add, check off the Delete box to delete O They can be sorted using the numbers (click a number and type in number of line you want to move that line to) or use arrows

48 Field question editor As you add fields/questions they will appear here: Question can be moved up or down using the arrows, or click on a number and type in the new number will move to that line

49 Field question editor Inactivate or delete questions as needed - Can inactivate questions for later use Questions can be deleted

50 Field question editor To edit a question, click on the edit icon - Edit icon

51 Field question editor O For answers that the user will be typing in letters/numbers, you need to indicate the maximum number of characters O I always over estimate O If there is a limit (e.g. year of birth), it can be set here (e.g. 4 )

52 Field question editor O The preview area allows you to see how it will look O Click update to refresh

53 Field question editor O Radio buttons and check boxes presented in columns O But, one vertical column is usually the easiest for the user to use

54 6. The Excel File

55 The Excel File Every time someone submits a form, the data is entered into an Excel file that can be downloaded O Data can then be manipulated in Excel O Old results can be deleted useful to do if you re working on data each semester

56 The Excel File Example of an Excel file Date stamps when it was submitted

57 7. Guidelines, Recommendations & Advanced Stuff

58 Guidelines, Recommendations & Advanced Stuff O Always TEST the form! O Images can be added to questions ask Joe or Katherine O Questions can include links to pages, but must be hand coded O Try and keep questions simple and brief O Description text can be added (where there s no field with it) O Page breaks can be added will show Next and Previous O is not secure - if the data is more sensitive in nature, consider not sending it via O Highly sensitive data should be using secure transfer ask Katherine to set that up (in this case, it can t be ed using the Survey s feature) O No, we can t remove the to submit button L O On a mobile device, the Top question placement is much easier consider always using Top on your pages