InfoPath Dev

Merry Christmas everyone!

So I'm hoping for some advice. My mother-in-law is doing a survey and it's all in hard copy format, so I suggested that she should have an on-line version. And of course I dobbed myself in for the job. 

:(

Originally I was just going to design an InfoPath form (I have some experience in doing this), but then I realized that in her case she would need to be able to email the form (or a link to the form) around to people all over the place. In other words, the survey is for the general population and therefore people will be accessing it on PCs, Macs, tablets, whatever. So I figured the way to go was to make an InfoPath "web" form. So, my question is, is there a way to do this without having to publish it to SharePoint?  Or is there a "SharePoint" site online (i.e. on the internet) that I could publish the form to? Or some sort of other web service?

I'd be prepared to pay for a service, if necessary, as my preferred option would be to design it in InfoPath (mainly because I'm familiar with it and also because this is a once-off, so I don't want to have to invest in other software etc to get this happening.

I did suggest Survey Monkey, but my mother-in-law seems to be against that option for some reason (and her reasons confused me, so I may have to prod her again for an explanation).

 Anyway, open to whatever suggestions people may have. Basically I just need it to be emailable around to people anywhere on whatever platform they may be on, hence the idea of a browser form. As a minimum I would think it'd have to work on both PCs and Macs, but nowadays many people may also opt to complete the survey on an iPad or Android tablet too. So I'm all ears for suggestions.

 Thank you!

 Joe. 

 Hello Joe,

Merry Christmas to you as well! For people who would be filling out your form there are several requirements. In InfoPath, the form either needs to be browser enabled, and published to a SharePoint site (to work with PC's and MAC) or the person must have the InfoPath client installed, even if the form is sent through email (PC only).

A great option may be to use google forms. Here's a webinar we did a few weeks ago on creating a google form. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8ylW27ibIk&list=PL581899A129522F53  They are similar to InfoPath, easy to customize, and available on any platform.  

If you're looking for other form ideas, here's our community site to give some info on various forms technologies. http://formsquo.com/solution-matrix/

Hope that helps!
Bre

Bre Huston | Project Manager

Qdabra® Software / InfoPathDev.com / FormsQuo /  877.544.2389 main / 425.318.7843 direct

Business Process Automation for Everyone – Streamline data gathering to turn process into knowledge.™

 

Hi Bre,

Thank you so much for your response. I hadn't even thought about Google Forms, having never used it, but will definitely check out your links.

As for the rest of your reply, it's what I suspected. I guess I was hoping there was a SharePoint site someone had published on the internet as a service for people wanting to publish forms etc on the WWW as opposed to local intranets.

Thank you again for your help. And a Happy New Year to you!

Joe.

Ok, so I've been working with Google Forms and have had to make a few sacrifices, but after getting to the 55th question on this survey/questionnaire and hitting another hurdle in terms of functionality, I'm now thinking I need to go to something else.

I've had a look at the Technology Matrix (see Bre's reply above), and am wondering which one would offer me the most functionality AND be usable to people on either Windows or Mac platforms. Basically all I need is for it to work in a browser, and for it to be online (i.e. on the internet, not just an intranet).

Any advice would be most appreciated.

And, just in case, I'll ask again whether there's anywhere online I could publish an InfoPath browser form so that it's on the internet and will work on both Windows and Mac platforms.

Thank you!

Joe.