Electronic forms is an emerging market that is being incorporated into daily use in many corporations and small businesses. In the transition from paper forms to electronic forms many users are merely recreating the paper forms digitally to create an exact replica on screen. This is being done through the utilization of page layout programs such as QuarkXpress and PageMaker as well as through the aid of electronic forms software programs available today. These software programs aid the user with forms design, often providing templates of forms that are in a graphical format containing rules, logos, and other graphically embellishing elements. The electronic forms industry is also moving towards a workgroup computing environment where intelligent forms can automatically be sent electronically to other users in the workplace without ever printing onto paper. However, the graphic elements involved in the electronic forms of today can slow down networks and require many bytes of memory for storage especially in major corporations who may have thousands of forms on file. A comparison of the graphically embellished form versus a straight data-entry questions only form format needs to be researched. The purpose of this thesis project is to provide the electronic forms industry with knowledge as to the advantages and disadvantages of both a graphical form and a straight data-entry form. This research also performed a series of tests as to the timeliness, accuracy of data entered, and user's preference for both graphically embellished forms and straight questions-only forms.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Layout (Printing)--Data processing; Business--Forms--Data processing; Electronic publishing; Computerized typesetting; Computer graphics
Department, Program, or Center
School of Print Media (CIAS)
Preston, Karen, "On-screen electronic forms design: Graphical elements vs. straight data entry formats" (1996). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
RIT – Main Campus