Adobe brings HTML forms to tablets and smartphones

Adobe has unveiled a cloud-based management tool designed to help enterprises create, distribute and collect information from online forms quickly and conveniently.

Adobe FormsCentral enables users to create professional online forms to attract new customers, collect information for events and measure customer satisfaction, Adobe said.

The forms are created using HTML, meaning that respondents can view and complete them using devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops.

A range of templates includes 'Event registration' and 'Feedback' forms to help users get started, and powerful data analysis and collaboration tools have been built in.

"There is no need to know script when using Adobe FormsCentral [and] no IT involvement is necessary," said Varun Parmar, principal product manager at Adobe, during a webcast demonstration.

Parmar demonstrated how templates can be "customised in 30 seconds" with company logos and colours to meet specific branding needs.

Teams can also collaborate on the creation and analysis of forms, and co-ordinators can assign roles to individuals and determine the level of access to information.

Users allocated with tasks can switch to a private view to work in their " own sandbox", Parmar explained, and can preview and test forms before they are seen by respondents.

Once users have created and distributed the forms, results are managed and analysed using a central online database. Responses are added to this repository in real time and it is possible to search, sort and filter data.

Data can also be exported to Excel and CSV applications, eliminating the need to consolidate or transcribe results into a traditional spreadsheet, Parmar added.

Adobe offers two subscription packages. FormsCentral Basic is $14.99 (£9.35) a month for five forms and 500 responses per form, and FormsCentral Plus is $199 (£125) a year for unlimited forms and 5,000 responses per form.

A free trial is also available, allowing one active form at a time limited to 50 responses.