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Max sent this to me privately, but suggested I reply to the mailing list regarding some of the general comments. So, to keep the discussion going, here they are: > > - Forms may be filled out by legal professionals or your > average citizen. > OK; this is more a contents-related issue... It *should* be, but it won't. I don't think we're going to be making two sets of forms, hence the reason I brought it up. > > - We're open to condidering that end-users purchase > software (this would be > >more likely to happen in the legal professional world). > > For "professional" use definitely acceptable; for "general public" > rather tricky; you better provide (sponsor) the tools etc. Agreed. The point is if we find a great solution that simply requires an end-user purchase, fine. We'll gear it towards the professional users and the public will have to keep on using pen and paper. Far from perfect, but I want to keep all options open at this point. > > - If there is a server based component, it'd be nice to > have the server > >'remember' user data (ie, NAME, ADDRESS, forms-in-progress, etc.) > > If there is a server-component, will depend on the actual > workflows you have. Ah. Workflow...now you're asking people here to think big-picture. That may or may not happen ;o) At the point, workflow is: Form created in word -> Committee approves -> I distill to PDF and post on web. What I'd like to see is: Form created -> Committee approves -> Form authored (in whatever format appropriate) -> other interested parties comment -> form published via CMS -> eFiled. The reality is that workflow will more than likely match the current situation for the forseeable future. > Well, that is something you have to do anyway, in order to get your > forms. And actually, the most important step is not even the forms > creation per-se, but the analysis phase before you even think to > create a form. For now, I'm concentrating on technical issues (I don't want to get into the comittee based analysis situation...though I agree 100%). The bottle neck is there, no matter what...correct. However, it would seem to me that PDFs pale in comparison to a web-based forms WYSIWYG tool where the author simply needs to fill out a form wizard to create their form. Acrobat and the other PDF form authoring tool I used were clumsy and really required more of a page-layout skillset. Lots of pop-ups and tabbed windows to navigate through in a long, tedious process of naming each form element, assigning values, formatting, etc. While I, personally, love the fine-tunability of the tools, it's not terribly practical for assembly line work. > Wizard-style forms can be made PDF-based. The programming amount is > IMHO even smaller than for a ?ML-based system. Interesting...can you tell me more? > This is an approach, and will definitely work. However, again, it > will be the workflows which determine what you have to use. Er...well, as much as I hate to say it, whatever technology we choose may have as much bearing on the workflow as any other decision. > The situation has changed with Adobe Reader 6, which can submit to > the server without the use of a browser. Oh? Really?! That's great news! Good for Adobe. And good for users like me that hate having to look at a PDF in a browser ;o) And thanks for the product suggestions, Max. I'll quote them briefly here for everyone's future reference: > For forms creation, it is highly recommended to look at OneForm Plus > by Amgraf (http://www.amgraf.com) > you might in addition consider a process > management system, such as the one provided by Movaris > (http://www.movaris.com). > > You might also look at the solutions provided by Cardiff > (LiquidOffice), which contains a forms design tool and a process > management environment. > > Depending on the off-line capabilities you need, you may also have to > look at the Adobe Document Server for Reader Extensions (which IMHO > would be necessary for reaching the general public) -Darrel> To change your subscription: http://www.pdfzone.com/discussions/lists-pdf.html
