Forms for people : designing forms that people can use / Robert Barnett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barnett, Robert.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Business--Forms.

Business.

Business records.

Physical Description:

xvi, 494 p. : ill.

Edition:

2nd ed.

Place of Publication:

Belconnen, ACT : Robert Barnett and Associates, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

'Forms For People,' by Robert Barnett, is a 512 page comprehensive manual on the design and production of business forms. The book has been written for both the experienced forms analyst as well as the novice and part-time form designer and is based on the author's experience in the industry for over 40 years. It covers a wide range of technical subjects such as typography, color, paper selection, offset printing and computer-related forms, with many illustrations and tables for the technically-minded designer. However, it also provides extensive background material based on the author's many years of conducting training courses and workshops in form design. Starting with such basic subjects as "what is a form?" and "the wide variety of forms" it moves on to more advanced subjects such as "human communication", "forms analysis", "usability testing" and "electronic forms." The book's emphasis is on designing forms that people can understand and use rather than just teaching the theory of graphic design and layout. For example, there are five chapters dealing with why people make mistakes when filling out forms and showing what can be done to deal with this using such modern techniques as usability testing. Even when dealing with fundamentals of layout and design, it takes the reader beyond the traditional "upper left corner captioned box" approach and shows how plain language questionnaires can dramatically reduce human error and significantly improve processing productivity. Based on up-to-date scientific research it covers such subjects as "designing forms for aged people" and "how to get people to follow instructions." The final 8 chapters deal with electronic forms, from key issues and implementation through to design and testing. The book finishes with an extensive bibliography of books and papers on forms and related subjects.

Contents:

Intro

Table of Contents

About this book

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 - Types of Forms

Chapter 2 - Foundation For Good Forms

Chapter 3 - Communication Basics

Chapter 4 - Forms Language

Chapter 5 - Multilingual and Multicultural Forms

Chapter 6 - The Forms Analysis Process

Chapter 7 - Aids to Forms Analysis

Chapter 8 - Interviewing

Chapter 9 - The Needs of Users

Chapter 10 - Estimating and Costing

Chapter 11 - Forms Typography

Chapter 12 - Basic Form Graphics

Chapter 13 - Colour and Shading

Chapter 14 - Form Structure

Chapter 15 - Questionnaire Design

Chapter 16 - Forms for Aged People

Chapter 17 - Multipart Forms

Chapter 18 - Envelopes and Mailer Forms

Chapter 19 - Computer Input Forms

Chapter 20 - Machine Readable Forms

Chapter 21 - Forms for Special Processing

Chapter 22 - Types of Errors People Make

Chapter 23 - Traditional Methods of Testing

Chapter 24 - Using an Error Analysis

Chapter 25 - Observational Useability Studies

Chapter 26 - Setting up a Testing Program

Chapter 27 - Using a Computer for Design

Chapter 28 - Paper for Forms

Chapter 29 - How Printing Works

Chapter 30 - Getting Quality Printing

Chapter 31 - Electronic Forms Overview

Chapter 32 - Major Electronic Forms Issues

Chapter 33 - Implementing Electronic Forms

Chapter 34 - Electronic Form Design Principles

Chapter 35 - Components of Electronic Forms

Chapter 36 - Adding Intelligence to Electronic Forms

Chapter 37 - Internet and Intranet Forms

Chapter 38 - Testing Electronic Forms

Appendix 1 Bibliography

Appendix 2 Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliography and index.

ISBN:

1-281-79279-9

9786611792794

1-60557-232-2