How to design great application forms

Traditional forms Other formats
Can be fairly easily compared because their style and size are fixed Are more difficult to compare because their style and size are flexible
May suit situations where you expect large numbers of similar applications May suit situations where you expect small numbers of highly variable applications
Attract and enable statistics-based reporting Attract and enable qualitative analysis
Require fixed criteria Allow for looser, "fuzzier" criteria
May suit situations where change mechanisms are well understood May suit situations where there is uncertainty as to what works