Opt into using ODK Web Forms

Thanks to everyone who has tried out ODK Web Forms and provided feedback! :star_struck: For more context, you can check out the project announcement, the demo site, and our high-level roadmap.

We are now in phase 2 as outlined in our high-level roadmap. A big part of this phase will be providing an option in Central to opt a specific form into using ODK Web Forms instead of Enketo (the current web forms tool). When this option is selected, all functions currently provided by Enketo – form filling, preview, submission edit – will be provided by the new Web Forms instead. It will be possible to change the setting back and forth as needed.

We expect that some Central users will want to opt into Web Forms as soon as the opt-in setting is available in order to access functionality that works better for them in Web Forms or to try it out and get early feedback from their form-filling users. We generally expect that folks will opt into Web Forms as part of setting up a new form rather than switching an existing form over but either will be possible.

One important area of design for this functionality is around links. Here's our current plan:

  • When an admin opts an existing form into Web Forms, redirect existing Enketo URLs. This means any form links that were previously shared will seamlessly switch over.
  • When a form is opted into Web Forms, use a new style of URL for the + New submission button and any public access links. If an admin switches back to Enketo, the new style links will continue working.

We will eventually expose more configuration options for links including the ability to customize the URL (for example, a Public Link that is something like https://myserver/literacy).

We are working towards including this opt-in functionality in the next Central release, expected some time in March. We'll use this thread to share designs and more details as we work on the implementation. Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback!

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