[LurfysMa]

Can someone suggest a good way to create fill-in forms?

I need to create several forms similar to job or loan application
forms. They will have a lot of boxes where the applicant will fill in
(with a pen or pencil) information such as name, address, etc.

The problem is that the fields are all different sizes. Some fields,
such as addresses, are 5-6 inches wide whereas others, like gender,
are 0.25" wide.

I was thinking about a format

_____________________________________ __________________ _____
Name Date of birth Sex

____________________ ____________________ ____________________
Home phone Work phone Cell phone


I tried to set this up using tabs, but it's a real pain. I need leader
tabs for the lines and non-leader tabs for the labels.

I then tried it with tables. The hassle here is setting up tiny cells
in between each field to get the gap in the lines. It's also a bit of
a problem as Word does funny things when it sees consecutive table
rows with all different column widths. I could solve that by putting a
non-table line between each pair of rows.

My thrid try is also using tables, but with the label inside the cells
in small print (view with monospace font):

+----------------------------------+----------------+---------+
|Name |Date of birth |Sex |
| | | |
| | | |
+----------------------------------+----------------+---------+

+---------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
|Home phone |Work phone |Cell phone |
| | | |
| | | |
+---------------------+---------------------+-----------------+

This is the easiest to maintain, but the form looks a little cluttered
and the text in slightly in the way of the fill-in space.

I would appreciate any suggestions for better ways to do this.

Thanks

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Running Word 2000 SP-3 on Windows 2000