Many of us have already been enjoying the wonders of Google. First they gave us a great search engine, then the best email system ever (Gmail), then Google Docs allowed us to make and edit documents and spreadsheets online, in a collaborative environment.
The latest feature of Google Docs is just as exciting. Now you can build a simple spreadsheet and turn it into an online form. The form can be a standalone webpage or embedded into your blog or other website. This makes it very easy for the "regular" person to collect data from website visitors.
Here is a video that demonstrates the new feature: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/05/featured-video-quick-and-easy-forms.html
I've gone ahead and made a test form myself, here it is:
And if that weren't cool enough, with Google Docs you can view the output of a spreadsheet as an image, or "gadget". The gadget can be embedded into any webpage. So not only can you collect simple information, but you can display it, in realtime. The following gauge is a "gadget" that shows the average of all values submitted in the form above:
Now the astute person will ask: is this too good to be true? And the answer is, of course it is! There are many catches and caveats. One of the big ones is that in the Google Apps for your Domain environment (like SERRC has), you can only share spreadsheets with people within your domain. Thus, the form and gauge above are only visible once you've logged-in to Google with your @serrc.org username and password. Another caveat is that, once embedded, your blog will slow down due to the extra calls it needs to make to Google's servers. So, is this the solution for everyone? No. Does it replace "real" data collection and reporting built-in to mission-critical websites? No. Is it a great feature for some particular, low-impact circumstances? Yes!