Wufoo
is a new web app that enables users to create their own web forms. I have to disclaim
that Kevin Hale, the guy who re-designed my blog,
is one of the people behind Wufoo - so I'm somewhat biased in writing about it. But to
balance that, I'll also mention other companies who have developed similar web apps.
With Wufoo you can create your own online form and integrate it within your blog or website, or create a separate form page (which you can style). Other features include ability to email the form to people, RSS feeds to track usage, and a Report Manager. The process to create a form is very simple and it took me just a few minutes to create a test form, which I've copied and pasted below. There's lot's of Ajaxy goodness to make the process smooth and whizzy, but more importantly the end result is a useful one for website owners and bloggers. Here's my test questionaire, embedded into my blog (hopefully - I can't tell if it's working or not until I press 'publish'):
Update: It does work, but clicking 'Submit' takes the user away from my blog page. Also it'd be cool to have results automatically updated and displayed on this page.
Update 2: I've put the form on a separate page, because it was causing some display issues on my homepage.
Wufoo's business plan is subscriptions and by the looks of their page of examples, they're targeting everyone from software developers (for bug tracking) to mainstream website owners (e.g. create a wedding registration form). It's interesting to read how Wufoo came about - it was a product of Paul Graham's Y Combinator program for statups. Wufooer Chris Campbell wrote a useful post about the experience, entitled The Top 10 Questions Investors Asked Us.
The DIY Web App Market
Wufoo is the latest in a line of recent services that make building interactive Web apps easy. There are a number of new widget-builders - Snipperoo, PostApp are two that I've noted recently. Also Phil Sim launched WyaCracker in April.
In terms of online form builders, in addition to Wufoo there's The Form Assembly and JotForm (that I'm aware of). Also let's not forget the larger-scale DIY web app builders, like Ning, JotSpot, Ning, Zoho Creator, Dabble DB, DataMashups.com.
Overall, it's all part of a larger trend for web-based services that make creating interactive applications easy as pie - a great sign for the mainstreaming of Web20.
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