Text in table for multi-use form (online&hard copy)

[abhunter]

The description is kind of detailed, so I apologize and thank anyone that can assist for that in advance.



I'm working on trying to assist a group in updating a medical questionairre they use for products that cause adverse reactions in customers, without having the formatting of the form compromised when the customer is filling it out as an online form. The form, as it was originally created, was great for a printed use form, but as you add text fields to use it as a "fill-in" form, 2 problems arise. I have fixed one problem, but the other is eluding me.

Currently, it's setup in table format for the purpose of keeping everything uniform which is fine - except in the case of "text fill-in" questions such as: "Medications or treatment prescribed by medical professional?" or "Additional Information or Comments:" These questions require more detailed responses, but text wrapping in the table cell leaves an undesireable visual and doesn't address "moving" the next to the next cell as you reach the limit of the cell length.

We're trying to avoid requiring the user to watch what they're typing and "tab" to the next line, because the form needs to be as easy to use as possible. However, as it's also being used as a hard-copy form, it needs to retain the "underlines" for the handwritten responses while not changing the rest of the form's formatting. (For example, if you are typing "Additional Comments", and you've designated 3 1/2 lines for the customer to respond, it's perfect for the handwritten reply. When you try to add a text field to that for online completion, when the text wraps, it pushes those additional lines you've created down, throwing off the formatting of the entire rest of the form.

I've added the text fields, and set them for each cell to a maximum amount of characters - which solves the wrapping problem within the cell itself, however, on those fields with more than one line, we'd like to have the text "auto-move" down to the next line when the customer reaches the maximum number of characters on the previous line - so they don't have to "click" or "tab" mid-word or sentance into the next line to continue.

I've included an example below - the section "F. Additional Information or Comments:" is the largest example of what I'm asking about - when you start to type on that first line, and need to go to the next, what's the easiest way to set the program to do this without intervention by the user? (Sadly, the lines and highlights from my original document did not come through here, nor did the radio button options for question 19., 19a., 19b., 20., or 20c. 20a & 20c. are a single cell text answer field & 20b is a 2-cell text answer field.)

E. Complaint Information (continued)
19. Did you have to intervene with self-treatment for the symptoms to clear up?



a. Did you take action right away, such as washing off the product?



b. Did you use any over-the-counter health products to self-treat?


20. Did you see a medical professional about the symptoms you reported to us?



a. If yes, type of medical professional?


b. Medications or treatment prescribed by medical professional?





c. Did you require in-patient hospitalization due to the symptoms you reported to us?



If yes, for how long?





F. Additional Information or Comments:

[Stefan Blom]

Have you considered using different hardcopy and online versions of the form? It seems to me that doing so would simplify things for the fields with detailed responses.