The bottom line

The IRS provides examples of form design techniques which are familiar to a huge audience. Its forms are used year after year by a very large number of people. Some are so enamored of these forms as to fill them out on the behalf of other people! It has proposed solutions to common form design problems which range from radical innovation to mere gradual improvement and accretion, but one thing stays constant: A majority of American citizens eagerly track the development of the forms the IRS maintains.

Learning lessons from other organizations offers Web designers a unique opportunity to pursue a user experience unlike any most people have ever considered and reap the rewards of such a policy almost immediately. What are you waiting for?

This week's action item: Fill out some IRS forms. Compare that user experience to using traditional Web-based forms. How would you rate them?

Resources

• Visit the Internal Revenue Service page, your one-stop shop for all things tax-related.
  
  
• Check out some tax preparation software -- a method that some users prefer to filling out forms themselves.
  
  
• You can find more information about types of amnesia, but the author forgot where.
  
  
• Investigate these IBM tax service and compliance solutions.
  
  
• Ever wonder why change is a very hard thing? Join the cranky user as he compares the baby duck syndrome to how you imprint on your first computer system (developerWorks, March 2005).
  
  
• In Learn from your customers for usable Web apps, discover how users can be your best asset in designing effective Web applications and forms (developerWorks, June 2003).
  
  
• Dispel myths about interface design as Paul Smith shares 13 years of design experience in Debunking the myths of UI design (developerWorks, February 2002).
  
  
• Read The usability world according to Tog, always a good source for user-centered design philosophy when it comes to technology (developerWorks, April 2001).
  
  
• Visit the Web Architecture zone which specializes in articles covering various Web-based solutions.
  
  
  
  
• Check out the Developer Bookstore with its comprehensive listing of technical books, including hundreds of Web-related titles.