I need to create a bunch of forms & documents - standard business forms … like a questionnaire or a work order, etc.
Word has to be the most frustrating layout tools mankind has seen. If you’ve seen worse, I’m sorry for you.
What should I turn my attention to to get these done? I’m not stuck with it am I?
Matius, please, be patient with me… I’m exhausted, I had a hell of a week, a few hours of sleep… You can’t imagine how thick I can get, or the level of stupidity that I can reach at this state… please, be specific… exactly what do you mean by this?
This made me laugh, you’re right that was pretty much an unfair lazy question. Never mind it 
Also, it would be nice to know why you want the form to accomplish and what you really want to do to offer the best method.
I mean it’s simple really, I need to send these forms out to collect information - I want to make them available on all platforms and as easy to use as possible so that they don’t stop in the middle of filling it out or have trouble sending it in. Not sure what else to say on that.
Hitting your thumb with a hammer does not mean the hammer is defective…
Ehhhhhh… ok … I hear ya but it could be less aggravating out of the box.
Thank you molona, really appreciate the guidance~!
Hitting your thumb with a hammer does not mean the hammer is defective…
If you’re going to send them by e-mail you can:
a) Go the PDF route. Flashy and nice looking. Admits Javascript programming and it can send all the data back to your e-mail or directly to your database on your domain.
If they want to print it and send it to you by regular mail or fax, it will look fantastic.
b) Link to a web form which will be kept on your site. It has the same advantages except that printing may be slightly harder.
If you have Acrobat Professional 9 (the real thing, not Adobe Reader, the player), then I will suggest that you do it with Acrobat and send it as an attachment with your e-mail. Programming is a bit harder because you need to use PDF objects but making it look good, slick and professional is much easier…
If you don’t have Acrobat Professional 9, don’t even think about it. The licence is around 900 Euros (sure in US is much cheaper but still expensive. It is not worth it for just one form). Go the web route. 
I have indeed thought about HTML, not the quickest option but def., something worth doing… is this what people put in their client login area?
Have you considered HTML? I know it seems funny on the surface but you could display the forms exactly how you want, allow them to be printed (even with content typed inside or boxes checked) and you could probably forgo the whole print medium if you wished by allowing electronic submission.
Good question, I think realistically the most convenient way I could offer would be the choice to type and select checkboxes with the mouse, etc., or print it out & write in their choices… then mail or email…
Matius, please, be patient with me… I’m exhausted, I had a hell of a week, a few hours of sleep… You can’t imagine how thick I can get, or the level of stupidity that I can reach at this state… please, be specific… exactly what do you mean by this?
If you mean the username & password you need to type to enter a private area, the answer is yes.
Also, it would be nice to know why you want the form to accomplish and what you really want to do to offer the best method.
…been a basic user since there was Word. Have a sat down with the manual & done everything I can to understand formatting options - no. Probably the auto-formatting that is doing me in…
Thanks for the suggestions.
Word was not intended to produce structurally complex layouts, for that you should be looking towards a desktop publishing tool. Among your options would be Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher or Quark. As for Word itself, surely it’s not that complex to place a table on the page, remove the borders and split or merge columns and rows (and resize them by dragging, etc) as appropriate to get the alignment you require? I’ve never had any problems making Word do whatever I need, perhaps you’re just not that experienced with it. Producing a structurally sound table that lays content out accurately is quite a basic function.
What kind of forms are we talking about? Are they to be e-mailed and returned to you by e-mail? Or are you sending them to be filled and printed?
Adobe Acrobat Professional 9 has a quite complete form tool but Acrobat is expensive. It is nice and you can use JavaScript.
You can also do it for free by creating a web form and then print it as a PDF and then e-mail it
Office-wise… even Excel is better than word! 