1530.0 - ABS Forms Design Standards Manual, 2010
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/01/2010 First Issue
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COMMON STANDARDS TO ALL ELECTRONIC FORMS Introduction This section identifies a number of basic standards and elements common to all electronic forms. Standard components All electronic forms should offer at least the same level of help, information and instructions as their paper equivalent. Electronic forms should also be as visually similar to their paper equivalents as possible. There are several exceptions to this, namely, font and font size, use of colour and use of separate worksheets for different sections, front of form, comments etc. While the presentation of these components may vary slightly, conceptually these are:
Wording and language In keeping with the principle that electronic forms are based on paper ones, all content and associated (paper) form standards should remain the same or match as closely as possible within the constraints of Excel. This includes the use of lines and boxes, the presentation of notes with questions, formatting and overall question wording. Screen resolution Forms are designed to fit in a maximised 800x600 window on a 15" monitor running at 24m colours, with the width of the body of the form extending over the full width of an 800x600 screen. Colours The only colours currently used are two shades of grey, plus black and white. Monitor settings and individual colour perception both affect the way the respondent views colour on their PC screen. In line with the principle that e-forms should be kept simple and designed with the least sophisticated system in mind, a monochrome colour scheme should work for any design. The colour specification for all electronic forms is therefore:
Diagram 2.1 Diagram 2.2 Coloured forms are currently under consideration with the aim of providing specifications that will allow matching to the paper form equivalent. As with paper forms, it is most important to have a strong contrast between the background and notes colours and the text. The background colour should not be highly saturated in order to provide good contrast with text. Fonts 'True Type' Arial is used throughout all electronic forms. Sizes are based on those for paper forms:
While Arial is the only acceptable font for Excel forms, Arial, Verdana and MS Sans Serif are the order of preference for Web forms. For text on the form that is not a question or explanation for the respondent, such as office use codes, it is best to differentiate the text. On paper forms, the sans serif font Verdana is used to contrast with the serif font Times. For Excel and Web forms use Times for office codes.
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