Designing an Online Form from Scratch - Essay Example

“Customizing the ribbon enables the developer to choose from a number of content control features such as plain text, drop-down list, combo box, and date picker” (Shelly & Vermaat, 2012). Based on the type of data you wish to enter in the form, the desired content controls will be chosen and their properties changed to suit the needs and purpose of the design. To design content controls for entering names, it would be wise to choose plain text. This allows the end-user to enter text but may not allow formatting.

The same applies to content controls for e-mails and phone numbers. However, the type of controls that would be used for the department is a combo box. This is particularly important as it allows the user to select one item from a list of items. In this case, the user can only select one item because it may not be possible to be a member of two different departments. Content controls for gender may be a check box that allows one to check one of the items from the list given. Lastly, a date picker will be used for purposes of designing a place holder where the user will be able to choose the date through direct interaction with the calendar.

References: Shelly, G. B., & Vermaat, M. (2012): Microsoft Word 2010: Comprehensive. Boston, MA: Course Technology Cengage Learning. Vermaat, M. (2013): Microsoft Word 2013: Complete.