Despite digital forms technology being available for more than two decades, a surprising number of digital forms created in MS Word, PDF, HTML web forms, and online form builder applications remain basic to mediocre at best. Most simply replicate paper forms on a screen, offering little more than blank fields and minimal formatting assistance.

Aside from rudimentary features such as number, date, and ZIP code formatting, many digital forms fail to take advantage of capabilities that could significantly reduce completion time. Features designed to eliminate redundancy, minimize repetitive typing, and reduce typographical errors are either overlooked or ignored entirely.

Given today’s technology, this lack of optimization is difficult to justify. Digital forms should, at a minimum, be designed to reduce redundancy rather than perpetuate it. Yet users are still required to enter the same information repeatedly, a problem that paper forms struggled with decades ago.

Equally troubling is the practice of charging fees for poorly implemented digital forms. Some vendors offer PDF forms with little more than blank fields while charging per download or per use. This stands in stark contrast to organizations that provide well-designed digital forms at no cost, highlighting how unnecessary many of these fees truly are.

Additional shortcomings include inconsistent form field naming conventions, improper application of built-in field features, and a general failure to follow proven design standards. These issues are often the result of inexperience or a lack of familiarity with the native capabilities available in professional PDF authoring tools.

Taken together, these deficiencies suggest that usability and efficiency remain low priorities for many digital form creators. In contrast, EasyPDF™ forms are intentionally designed to eliminate redundancy, reduce typing, and accelerate completion time while remaining fully usable in the free Adobe Reader environment.