The term 'user experience (UX)' predominantly propounds interface design and visual representation. However, in reality, a good UX extends much yonder than that. Other than software, web applications, games, and other interactive media, good UX's principle applies to PDF forms.
What Edge do PDF Forms have Over Other Options?
The fillable PDF form has gained much reliability and popularity amongst all other alternatives, such as offline paper forms, HTML, or Microsoft Word. Forms are equipment that assists in efficient data collection. The benefits of PDF forms include –
- Security: Institutes using forms often have to be extra careful – individuals or departments might edit them to suit their perceptions. Particularly with Microsoft forms, created with Visual Studio or tables, possibilities of edits might lead to a breach in security. Depending on how a document is saved and exported, security often possesses an issue with HTML forms.
On the other hand, PDFs flattens information once the form has been filled in. Thus, it justly satisfies the drawback of HTML forms. A PDF usually consists of two layers – the initial layer contains the already filled and permanent data while the second layer comprises the data that the user can fill. Upon recovering a form, the receiver can choose to flatten the data that merges the two layers. Such an act inhibits the user from changing any fields or editing any information in the form, though the appearance remains the same. - Print-Friendly: Depending on the printer settings, the form margins often reflow for Microsoft Word documents. This creates a problem with the right-hand side of the documents. The outcome often attributes to contents getting shifted to the next page or not being visible at all. The same happens in HTML coded forms too, if they are not designed adequately for each browser. This makes testing immensely vital for the process.
PDF forms, however, do not adjust to the printer. This implies that the margins in PDF formats do not get shifted. Hence, this format has earned a reputation for high standards of viewing and rendering. This ensures that the documents print as they look on the screen and eliminate all surprises during the output.
Archiving is widely considered a vital feature while collecting user data. This is basically because the data might be again used in the future. Microsoft Word does not offer any standard archiving mechanism that would facilitate easy management and recovery. On the other hand, PDF provides a safe place – information can be easily found in the document management process.
