Adaptive Form Layouts: Escaping the 8 by 11 Trap

Designing an adaptive form layout can feel like an overwhelming task. You cannot simply convert a paper form into an adaptive form by recreating each element as it would appear in the print version. This would lead to a very clunky and hard to use form.

Adaptive forms are designed to be device agnostic and dynamic. This means that we can create more engaging and friendly interfaces which we should take advantage of. Adaptive form design, just like any content creation with Adobe Experience Manager, should be thought of from an atomic perspective. What areas of the form are reusable, not just in this specific form you are trying to create but amongst all the forms for your business, examples could include headers, footers, address blocks and special styling requirements to help guide users through the form. Identifying reusable sections will help in establishing how a specific form should be laid out. 

Understanding all the different features and possibilities that exists is critical to designing the best layout for your specific form. There are several out of the box layouts that can drastically change the look and feel, along with the ease of use for the end user. Nested layouts are also a very powerful tool when used correctly to allow a clearer division of content. 

Before trying to create your adaptive form in Adobe Experience Manager ensure you understand the complete journey of the form. How are people going to find, fill and submit this form? What can be done to ensure that all the relevant information is presented to the user without cluttering up the screen? Is there a way to simplify the process and what accessibility guidelines are you following? 

Once you understand what your adaptive form will need to do try out a few different layouts. List out pros and cons with specific layouts to get an understanding of how some layouts will work better in certain scenarios.  

To help with understanding the advantages and disadvantages of different layouts you should become aware of the different layouts that are available to you. The more familiar your are with the layouts the more quickly you will be at identifying which layouts work best and be able to build company standards around. To help with this keep an eye out for rest of this series which will do an analysis of each stock layout.

For an example of an adaptive form within Adobe Experience Manager see our Automated Journey Management page.