Here is the 'suggested forms activity' mentioned last week. What I propose now is something more like a genuine tutorial, with input from more than person (hopefully everybody). BACKGROUND Email-only webmasters have certain disadvantages that people with full WWW access do not have to contend with. One of them is that they cannot experience their pages as other see them -- online, downloaded from a remote server. This experience often prompts authors to re-edit their pages to make allowance for the added dimension of download time that is always missing from the hard disk editing cycle. Feedback and critiques from page visitors is always important, but in these circumstances, it is vital. We already have the tools for eliciting feedback: online forms. What most of use don't have is a critical mass of visitors from whose judgement we may benefit. This proposed activity will be a collective attempt to obtain feedback from visitors. I have no idea if it will work, but there is only one way to find out. THIS IS HOW IT WOULD WORK ... 1. All those interested in getting visitor feedback create a questionnaire form page. The page should be clearly linked from the home page, and should also have a reverse link to the home page. 2. The questionnaire page should tell the visitor exactly what you are trying to do. It does not matter if your web site is not very advanced -- the visitor will understand. 3. We would need 2 or 3 or 4 volunteers to act as questionnaire linkmasters. If you are willing to create a page with links to other subscribers' web sites, please respond to this message, so that subscribers know who you are. 4. Subscribers who have made questionnaires send their home page URLs to the linkmasters (not to this list), who will add them to their link pages. 5. When we have enough questionnaires to get started (at least 10, I think), we will ask everyone we know -- on every relevant mailing list, newsgroup, forum and message board, to visit and critique your web pages. The URLs we give them will be those of the linkmaster pages. That will enable them all to visit and respond to multiple questionnaire pages. 6. Hopefully (no guarantees) everyone who wants it will get some useful feedback. I think this would take at least a week to organise. WHO WOULD LIKE TO BE A LINKMASTER? QUESTIONNAIRE DATA Type of information you might request: 1. Visitor's opinions of the site design. 2. Visitor's opinions of the site content. 3. Site-independent data If you want to get honest and useful answers ... 1. The questionnaire should be anonymous. 2. Try to explain why the information requested is valuable to you -- and (if possible) how you might use it. 3. Don't ask for information that you don't actually need. 4. Make it clear that you welcome constructive criticism, even if unfavorable. 5. Don't ask questions that the visitor cannot answer. 6. All questions must be optional. 7. Always provide Other and Don't know choices. I have placed an example questionnaire at http://www.netjunk.com/users/websitebyemail/forms03.html You are welcome to download the source, and adapt it for your own purposes. The FORM element of this page will appear in the next posting.