New themes in Google forms

Today, I’m happy to announce that we’ve added 24 new themes to Google forms, which take advantage of the new Google Font API and images from iStockphoto. As a reminder, when you're editing a form, click the Theme button to find the right theme and apply it to your form.

I first got involved with themes at Google when I designed a few templates for the Google Page Creator launch in 2006. Since then, I’ve worked on a number of theme projects in my 20% time, as they presented a far different design challenge compared to my regular projects as a webmaster at Google. You can see my “Spring/Zen Branches” in a number of products.

When I learned about the Google Font API, I wanted to give it a test drive by creating some new Google forms themes. Forms seemed like a good place to start, since they have a pretty standard structure, which makes them fairly simple to style. Initially I was just playing around with different font combinations, but when we added in imagery from iStockPhoto, things really took off. For example it made sense to create a wedding theme using cake imagery and the script font Tangerine, or a digital theme using binary number imagery and the monospaced font Inconsolata. And what better way to present a stack of old books than a font like Crimson Text, which brings to mind classical serif fonts from print? I had a lot of fun combining imagery, colors and font styles to match each other, and I hope you have fun using these themes on your forms.

How would you improve Google forms?

Since launching Google Docs forms last year, we’ve enjoyed seeing people use them for everything from wedding guest lists and party invites to surveys and scorekeeping for Oscar parties. We’re hard at work improving this feature, and we want to know more about what you think.

We recently added a new section specifically for forms to our Product Ideas for Google Docs page. Head over and tell us what you think we should do to make forms better, and see what others have to say as well. If you come across other ideas you like, vote them up.

Don’t forget, we’re still looking for feedback about documents, spreadsheets, and presentations too. We’ve already implemented six of your ideas, including shared folders, a web clipboard for better cutting and pasting between applications, and an increase in file size limits for uploads to your Docs List.

We look forward to hearing what you have to say, and stay tuned for more updates on implemented ideas.

Hosting a viewing party for the OSCARS®

Last year, I planned an OSCARS® viewing party with my friends. To add some friendly competition and figure out who was coming, I collected people's predictions for the winners and their RSVP information with a Google form ahead of time. I found the process really easy, so this year I created a Google form for the 2010 OSCARS® and made it a template that anyone can use to plan their own viewing parties:


If you're getting together with friends for OSCAR NIGHT® tomorrow, check out this template in the Google Docs Template Gallery. Happy viewing!



“OSCAR®,” “OSCARS®,” “ACADEMY AWARD®,” “ACADEMY AWARDS®,” “OSCAR NIGHT®,” “A.M.P.A.S.®” and the “Oscar” design mark are trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science.

Template spotlight: Party RSVP form

The Google Docs team is celebrating the holidays, and over the next week, we'll be highlighting some of our favorite holiday templates.

If you're planning a holiday party this holiday season, this Party RSVP form template makes it easy to gather the info you need without having to email back and forth with each person you've invited. As with all forms in Google Docs, your guests' RSVPs are automatically recorded in a spreadsheet connected to your form.



If you want to use a different theme for your RSVP form, you can start from this template, and if you're planning a company party, try this template out.

Add page break and go to page in forms

Have you ever wanted to create a form that changes which questions to show next based on an answer received earlier in the form? The two features we launched today make that easy. First, we've added one of the most requested features for forms: page breaks. Now it is easy to create a form with multiple pages by going to "Add item" and selecting "Page break."

We've also added another highly requested feature, logic branching. Once you've created a form with multiple pages, you can select "Go to page based on answer" to control the flow of your form based on the user's answers. For example, you can create a form asking the person to select their language and then direct them to a form in the correct language.


If you want to see both of these new features in action, let us know what your favorite holiday is.

Page breaks and go to page open up a whole new realm of possibilities. For example, you can create a product survey that asks a different set of questions based on whether someone has used the product before or a conference feedback form that branches off based on the session someone attended. You can even create your own interactive murder mystery or adventure using a Google form, share it with your friends and publish it in the public templates gallery. We hope you enjoy these new additions to forms!

New Features in Forms

Today, we added a few new features to Google forms:

Grid question type

You can now quickly gather responses for a group of similar questions in a new, compact grid format. The new grid question type allows you to label a few columns and create as many rows as you like.


Each row result appears in its own spreadsheet column, with its own summary chart, which brings us to...

Improved results summary charts

We've polished up our results summary charts, with clearer formatting of statistics and better formatting of charts for each question type.


Bi-directional language support

The form editor now supports right-to-left (RTL) text input. When you enter RTL text in the form editor, it will automatically switch the directionality of the form editor and rendered forms (similar to Gmail and other Google Apps). This means your text and questions will flip directionality, making it easier for RTL users to create and use forms.


Sign-in to view form

If you are a Google Apps customer, there are now two options to help you use forms within your organization. In addition to the being able to automatically collect respondent's usernames, we now offer the ability to require sign-in to view a form. This provides an additional layer of security for sensitive forms.

Pre-populate a form with parameters

For developers who would like to integrate forms with their own applications, we now provide an easy way to pre-populate a form with data. Simply append an entry string for each response field you'd like to pre-populate. As an example, this URL...
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=12345&entry_0=Barack&entry_1=Obama&entry_2=1600+Pennsylvania+Ave&entry_3=pistachios|spinach|broccoli&entry_4=8/4/1967
... pre-populates the form below....


Spruce up your surveys: 70 colorful themes



We've just launched 70 themes for forms so you can add a little (or a lot of) color to your surveys and questionnaires. Some themes are basic colors schemes (like Blue, Espresso, or Rose) and others are fancier designs (like Picnic, Zen Spring, and Dusk).

How do you choose a theme? When you're editing a form, click the Theme button to find the right theme and apply it to your form. One caveat: These themes will be visible to your respondents when they fill out the form online, not within email (like Gmail).

Try them out and let us know what you think.


Update: Replaced an extra open paren with a comma and corrected the image. Oops.

Which is faster, warp or hyperdrive?

More and more people have started using forms to collect information from their co-workers and customers. To contrast these more "practical" uses, I thought that I'd share three fun surveys that you can send to your friends: one for Star Wars and Star Trek fans, another that lets you find out what your friends think about you, and one with 18 totally random questions (just because).
After your friends submit their answers, you'll be able to see nifty summary charts like the one above. According to my friends, hyperdrive is faster than warp. Would your friends agree?

For those of you who haven't used forms before, here's how to get started:
  1. Preview the three surveys below and choose one.
  2. Customize the survey with a personal message and even add your own questions and answers.
  3. Email the survey to your friends.
  4. Sit back and watch as the results come in.
By default, your friends will be able to see each others' responses as well, but you can change this setting before sending out the survey if you'd like.







For those of you that would like to create a form from scratch, you can go to your Docs List and click New > Form.

Have fun with these forms.


Update: Several people have mentioned that they're enjoying the lively discussion (and sometimes debate) after filling out the survey. A common question has been, "How do I share the results with my friends?" An easy way to do this is to change the sharing options for the spreadsheet that holds the survey results. You can add your friends (using their email addresses) as viewers of the underlying spreadsheet and email them a link to the spreadsheet.