The version 2.0 of the Form Assembly is almost ready. If you’d like to have a sneak peak and have a say in the upcoming features, drop me an email (cedric at formassembly.com).

The main new feature is a form processing service. Want the responses to your forms to be forwarded to your email ? Want to see them as a RSS feed? Version 2.0 can do that, and more. You don’t even need a website, you can host the forms here.

There are many different ways to use this service, but here’s an example:
Maybe you’ve just finished with your seminar and you’d like to collect some feedback from the attendees. Browse through the Form Library and find a template close to what you need, load it in the Form Builder and customize it, save it, configure the display and processing options, subscribe to the RSS feed set up for the responses and that’s it. The last thing to do is to publish the form’s address and wait for the attendees’ feedback. It’s all done in a matter of minutes, and no programming skill is required.

The form hosting and processing service will be provided for a small fee, while the current services will remain free (form builder, template library and css stylesheet collection).

Also coming soon is a reorganization of the content of the site, with more resources for web developers and more documentation on the wForms extension.

The launch of version 2.0 is scheduled for next week for the beta-testers, and if all goes as planned, early November for everyone.

So, you’ve just tied up the loose ends and your project is finally ready to be introduced to the world. It could be a web application, a new website, or well, whatever it is, you feel it shouldn’t go unnoticed.
Here’s 10 tips that will (maybe) put you and your work in the spotlight.

1. Blog about it. There’s no way around it. Get yourself a blog if you don’t have one already and start talking about what you do.
2. Configure your blog software correctly:
   • Use relevant, keyword-based categories.
   • Make sure the permanent addresses for your posts (permalinks) contains the category and/or the post title.
   • Make sure your blog is configured to ping update services (like pingomatic.com)
   • Register your blog with Technorati
3. Take advantage of the social bookmaking sites. By creating an account and bookmarking your own website you’ll get some visibility for a short time. Don’t abuse or spam the system, it will hurt you and is completly unnecessary. Your visibility will go up as other people notice and bookmark your site.
4. Follow the trends using Technorati and Del.ici.ous. You’ll find that sites who maintain directories regularly pop up among the most popular sites. They will be interested in listing you, as long as your work matches their theme. If they haven’t noticed you yet, drop them an email. Some sites even allow public post.
5. Comment on other people’s blogs. Dont’ try to pitch your website, just write if you have something relevant to say. Most comments systems will let you enter a website address in your signature. Use it and count on the curiosity of the readers, they’ll want to know who you are…
6. Make it easy for other bloggers to post about your work. Provide on your site a visible and short description of what your work is about. Bloggers are lazy and they will gladly reproduce your text as is
7. Do your homework and make sure your site is Search Engine friendly. Learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It will help you in the long run.
8. Check your site stats. Find out who’s linking to you, returns the favor if appropriate (thank you emails are ok too). Follow up on emails and discussions. Show the motivated human being behind the work.
9. Write an article and try to get it published on one of the numerous webzines. If it doesn’t work out, you can always reuse the material on your own blog.
10. Write 10 tips about what you have learnt in the process. People love tips.

Technorati Tags: tips, web

Form Assembly 2.0 is coming. I’m putting a few other projects on the back-burner (wForms, Time-Tracker, etc…) in order to spend more time on it, and hopefully meet my self-imposed deadline of November 1st.

Form Assembly 2.0 is aiming to be a one-stop resource for everything web forms. Existing resources will remain free while new services will be introduced for a small fee. This includes form hosting and response processing. Whatever your skill level is, you’ll be able to easily and quickly create a form, put it online, and receive the responses directly to your email or RSS reader.

More details coming soon and as always, your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Technorati Tags: Form Builder, Web Development, Ajax