Forms: PDF or Online?

What is the best way to collect information?

Simple, least costly

Create a form to be printed and filled out. Use a program such as Word, and save as a PDF so that it cannot be altered.

Go to the page where you will make the PDF available, enter some text and place your cursor where you want the form to be accessed. Click Add Media above the formatting icons, upload the PDF or select it from the Media Library, link to media file (not attachment page), insert into post. Click into the highlighted/linked text, click the edit pencil, modify the Link Text if desired, and check the box to open in a new window/tab (this will allow people to close the PDF window without leaving your website).

More difficult/costly

Perhaps you want to capture the information electronically. An online form can be created with something as simple as the Contact Form 7 plug-in, the more robust and complex Ninja Forms plug-in, or by your web developer. The form will email the information entered into the form fields to you. A spam prevention measure such as a captcha is also recommended.

Note: you would not want to collect any personal/private/sensitive information without making your site secure and inputting the collected information into a database where you would login to view/retrieve. Secure certs are no/minimal cost.

Setting up a form is generally one hour for a simple form and can be several hours for more complex. Input to database will take several hours more.

Contact us if we can be of help.