| Introduction and Summary If youve ever tried to put together a web survey, or a whole series of them, as I have, youve probably been frustrated by whats available from off the shelf software such as FrontPage. Rejoice! A new product line aptly named FormArtist has recently entered the market, and it fills the gap left by run-of-the-mill WYSIWYG web development software in regards to quickly and easily producing powerful, quick and most of all user-friendly surveys on the web. If youve been looking for a product that offers powerful, graphically appealing, style sheet driven surveys that dont require a degree in programming to produce, keep reading. Versions FormArtist is currently offered in four different incarnations, at four different price points. The various versions are currently as follows: Presto ($49) Aimed at web designers, Presto allows the user to design visually rich forms for inclusion in web sites, web-polls or surveys where individual responses are emailed. Full design and scripting capabilities Form responses are emailed. E-mail destination can be determined based on form responses. Opinion meter (maximum 3 question may appear in results page) No database created. Standard ($199) This is aimed at corporate users - typically Marketing, HR, Customer Support, who are looking to perform surveys and analyze the results using Excel, Snap or CSV. Standard is also for Web Designers who are often asked by their organization or clients to produce surveys. As a form is designed, a database is automatically built. Data is stored on the Web server as a simple XML file When data is retrieved from the web server, it is added to the database Data can be exported as CVS Exports to Excel give bar charts and tables of results. Professional ($899) HTML Export and Upload Automated fetching of data and HTML exporting ODBC Field Mapping allows fetched data to be piped straight into ODBC data sources ACT!, GoldMine and Microsoft-CRM integration Presto and Standard editions show Powered by Quask when the form submits, in the Excel and HTML exports as well as in the response emails. This can be suppressed. Further advanced features, such as e-mail reminders for people who have not responded, will be incorporated in this version in the near future. Enterprise ($5,999) FormArtist Enterprise requires .NET to be installed on the web servers and a SQL Server 2000 database to be visible from the web servers. It is aimed at organizations with one or more of the following requirements Highest level of security or where no data of any sort may be written to the Web server. Environments where heavy volume or redundancy are required (load-balanced web servers) Custom integration where a developer wants to pre-populate a form with data before it is displayed to the user Custom integration where a developer wants to intercept and process data when it is returned from a form Files need to be uploaded as an attachment to a form Forms need to communicate with a web server while a form is being completed. Several form objects (list, text, numeric fields) can be populated with data returned from a server (searching etc.) A developer requires data to be stored in a server side database for integration or other purposes Highlights The real beauty of FormArtist, no matter which version you are using, is that it provides a complete environment for non-programmers to create eye appealing graphically oriented surveys and gather the results without having to go through extensive training and without having to shell out tens of thousands of dollars. FormArtist is the best product Ive encountered for saving time and energy while keeping survey respondents interested by providing a graphically rich WYSIWYG environment for the questions being posed. The reporting features are excellent, especially if one of the database enabled versions of the product is being employed. Best of all, and I cant stress this enough, is the ability to produce surveys in as large a quantity as you need, with minimal effort and only a modicum of computer expertise. Lets face it; we live in an age of specialization. Specialization often comes with a high price tag. When companies demand high quality output for a minimal investment, FormArtist is a life-saver when it comes to producing professional quality surveys and tracking results without the need to hire a high-priced team of specialists. Anytime a company produces a product that reduces the budget without sacrificing the level of professionalism involved, it should be lauded. Quasks FormArtist is such a product, filling a huge void in a niche market that is filled with mediocrity. If you need cheap, professional quality, high output, low learning curve software that will allow you to design, gather, and report an almost endless variety of targeted information about almost anything, then FormArtist should be a part of your toolbox. Screenshots Help Screen 
Wizard 
Emoticons 
A sample tickbox menu 
Deployment Menu 
Test Deployment Progress Indicator 
Conclusion FormArtist is a new product, with a few rough edges. The Opinion Meter feature has room to grow. During this review we also encountered some minor issues with SMTP authentication, but Quask has assured us that both the Opinion Meter and the SMTP areas of the product line are undergoing rapid development. Quask is also considering developing additional versions and additional template packs which may soon be able to be purchased as add-ons. Having pointed out the very minor detractors that I found during the review process, it is impossible to stress enough how useful FormArtist is when it comes to quickly producing professional surveys and being able to easily gather the resulting data for analysis. FormArtist is second to none as a web survey tool. | 