Webbi List: Review #3: Forms

Reviewing Form Generators

Updated June 22, 2009

     I love making forms. Surveys, polls, quizzes, easy feedback. When I started designing feedback forms for my sites, typing out all those input fields was a big chore. Also, if I wanted more than a "mailto" form, I needed a CGI or PHP script. I'm no code wizard, so writing out PHP or Perl is not for me. Luckily, there are many free form providers which do the work for me.
     Visitors love interactivity, so a form where one can leave comments, take a poll, or play a game certainly comes in handy. This review will look at a handful of excellent form generators and providers.

     MyContactForm is, in my opinion, the best form host on the Web. After using Response-o-matic for many years only to find out they've changed hands and are now charging for what was a free service, MyContactForm was a lucky find.
     This service is free, although MyContactForm offers premium accounts. More on this later.
     Sign up is a breeze, and you can start making your forms as soon as the confirmation email arrives. The Form Wizard is the easiest I've ever used. It walks you through each step of building your form. Two cautions: Please have your questions and format pre-planned. You'll also need to enter the URL of the page where your form will be.
     The Form Wizard will ask how many questions and what type before proceeding. From there, you'll enter your questions and responses. You can determine a fixed subject or have multiple subjects in a dropdown. You can have an autoresponder reply sent to a submitter once they complete the form. You can also designate a Thank You page for successful submission. Look and feel of the finished form is completely customizable. Once your form is ready, you'll get the HTML code to copy and paste into your page editor. Forms are not hosted at MyContactForm.
     Results are emailed to you every time someone fills out a form. You can opt results be sent in HTML or plain text.
     While MyContactForm is free, there are strings attached to "free." All free members have a set submission quota per month. No more than 20 submissions per month is allowed. This is whether you have just one form or many. Free members are limited to three forms at a time. Of course, you may delete a form if it's no longer needed. Free members may have only one email address to send results, and they're required to put a linkback to the service on the form. This is a non-intrusive text link. Also, free members' forms, once one submits, redirect to an ad page before going to your Thank You page. Again, this is not a big deal.
    Premium ($24.95/annual) members can have up to 5 email accounts on file. Submission quota jumps to 5000 per month. A linkback is not required. For more information on MyContactForm's member levels, please see this page.
Rating: 10+

     Formbuddy is a simple to use form generator. All forms are hosted at the site. No need to copy and paste the code on your webpage. You must login to Formbuddy to read form results; they are not emailed to you. To build a form, you can choose from several templates or do it yourself. Customize the look and feel, tailor the questions and responses to suit.
     I used this service in the past, but I really don't like it. The service is free so there are ads all over the place, even where you build your form. This can be a pain on the LBB. Navigation is somewhat difficult. Members are limited to 3 forms per account, of course you may delete forms no longer needed.
    Once someone completes a form, they are taken to your Thanks page or home page, but there is a framed advertisment that the visitor must click to remove.
Rating: 5

     Add-a-Form is a joy to use. The only drawback is forms are stored for one month only. This is no problem if your forms are temporary. Just provide a link from your home page. Like MyContactForm, Add-a-Form's wizard walks you through the process. You can tailor the questions and responses to suit your needs. You can also provide an autoresponder message that is sent to form submitters.
     Results are not emailed to you; they must be read on the site. Forms are hosted on the site, and each has its own URL, so all you need to do is provide the link on your webpage. Results are reported in raw percentages, so it's excellent if you need a breakdown in how many responded to certain questions.
     Add-a-Form does have a premium membership, but it's expensive – $9.95 per month. Still, with the premium level, one can have up to 10 forms (instead of 3) and store them indefinitely. Full results statistics can be emailed to you. I opted for the free level since the service is great for temporary forms.
Beware! Upon sign-up, please write down your username (email address) and password. Keep your login info is a safe place. There is no way to retrieve a forgotten password.
Rating: 9

You wouldn't think a guestbook provider would also host mailto forms, but Dreambook does. I use their forms all the time and love it. Just click "new book" then choose "Form to Mail". No public view page to bother with. You can customize input fields, questions, multiple responses, etc. I recommend using Dreambook's forms for short surveys and comment cards. Results are emailed to you in plain text.
Rating: 10

The following are not recommended by the Webbi List

     Formsite was WebTV friendly but not anymore. I used this the first time I needed a nice remotely hosted form. If you're on a PC, Formsite is a joy, but not so with the LBB. Using the form builder with WebTV is a big pain – One can't add or edit form attributes. Last year was the last straw with Formsite as I tried to build a form but got taken back to the incomplete form instead of the builder. Formsite is a no-go.

     Response-O-Matic and Freedback were favorites. Both are owned by the same company, and they're no longer free. Oh, you can sign up for a 30-day trial run, but the service itself is nothing to shout about. Stick with Add-a-Form or MyContactForm.
Rating for these: Thumbs way down