Options for a web-browser based tool

September 3, 2020 7:49 AM

My workplace is developing a tool which we would like to put online for the public to use. This tool would be like a survey (a series of questions) that leads to a report of the results and links to information which has been personalized based on those results. But we don't know what sort of options exist to implement the tool.

Here is a fictional example to illustrate what we're interested in doing:

- a series of questions (like a survey) about what kinds of fruit you like, with some questions where if you say "Yes" to "I like apples", then you would have additional questions what kind of apples you like, but if you don't like apples, you skip to another set of questions about another fruit

- at the end, the tool would tabulate what you reported - you like sour apples, you hate rhubarb (also, not a fruit), you like blueberries but only if they are wild, etc. - and would give you a report about your preferences that you could save, and also link you to recipes that have been chosen based on your preferences

(This really is a fictional example, but I wouldn't be surprised if it exists elsewhere)

Because our tool (unlike the recipe tool) is likely to be used only once by people, we would really like to have this tool be browser-based (not an OS specific application). We would also like it to be accessible to screen readers and alternative interfaces.

My questions:

- what are the possible systems/tools for implementing this?
- what are the advantages / disadvantages of different options?

So far, we have had Drupal suggested as a possibility (as that is already used in-house for webforms). But what are some other options?

Ideals would also include that the system be a) cheap and b) easily updated (adding new fruits/vegetables and/or new recipes) by non-programmers. We will also not be using any survey service like Survey Monkey or Qualtrics; this will be hosted on our own servers (and we have the support to do this). We just aren't sure about the best options for creating and running the tool from our website, and would like to be more informed before we approach professional programmers.

posted by jb to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

I would have thought that if you go to your professional programmers, tell them what you want, and what the rest of the site is built with, they'd be in a good place to advise you. Often the tool you'd pick if you were starting from scratch isn't the tool you'd use if you're already well along the learning curve with something else.
posted by pipeski at 8:20 AM on September 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Agree with pipeski, your developers can help you research your options.

My coworkers have used Wufoo (wuffo.com) surveys, Google forms and a few others. Each website lets non-programmers create surveys/forms and export plain HTML code that can be copy and pasted on to other websites.
posted by cowlick at 8:27 AM on September 3, 2020

I agree w/ pipeski. Your job is to define what you want the tool to do. The programmers' job is to figure out how best to do it. They'll have all kinds of ideas, preferences, etc. that you couldn't possibly (and probably don't want to!) know.
posted by nosila at 8:29 AM on September 3, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks for those points. I would just like to be more familiar with the possibilities so that we can have a better, more informed conversation with the programmers and also weigh our options about who we should approach.

As well, as I noted, we will not be using any service like Google forms, Wuffo, etc. We already use Qualtrics for our work (and are perfectly happy with it), but it's not appropriate for this particular tool.
posted by jb at 8:30 AM on September 3, 2020

Best answer: The difficulty is that what you're looking to do will almost certainly require some bespoke development, particularly in the reporting area. If we assume your tool will be coded with PHP (just on the basis that most sites are), then there are still dozens of different application frameworks and CMSes that could do what you're looking to do. Your requirement for people to be able to log in and update things and add ingredients and recipes indicates that CMS functionality would be part of the solution. If the tool also has plugins that make it easy to add, customise and process forms, that would be useful too.

But none of the above suggests to me one particular product. As it happens, I've used a CMS/web application framework called ProcessWire to build a couple of sites recently, so I'd be inclined to look at that first, just because it's fresh in my mind. A Joomla developer would probably look at whether Joomla could easily do what you're asking.
posted by pipeski at 9:15 AM on September 3, 2020

Response by poster: Thanks pipeski: and I think you have clarified that what I really need to learn is some of the basic terms. I've just googled what PHP is (a scripting language) and what a CMS is (a content management system) - and found that Drupal is a CMS that is written in PHP. We have people in my organization who know how to use Drupal modules to create websites; I don't know if either are able to make their own modules.

We actually just had a meeting with our internal website people, and they said that the basics of the survey (including display if/skip sequences) would be easy to implement as a Drupal webform, but that they need to do more research on whether there is a module that could do the reporting. Another feature that is important to the tool is the ability to take the questionnaire out of order - that is, we have 4 kinds of fruit, and we would like people to be able to start with the fruit that is most relevant to them (e.g. from a choice wheel), answer those questions, and then be returned to our "Fruit Choice Wheel" to choose another type of fruit, or go directly to the recipes for the fruit types they have answered about. This they also thought would be hard to do in a Drupal webform.

So really what I'm asking about is about what types of content management / web application frameworks exist and what are some of their relative strengths and weaknesses? Even if I just know the names, I'm better off; already I'm understanding more by knowing about PHP and CMS. (I think it's an occupational hazard for everyone that specialised knowledge can seem very basic - to keep up with my fruit metaphor, it's like assuming that everyone knows what the difference between a tart and a torte. I don't actually know that, but at least I know the words so I can google them).

So far I have things to look up:

- ProcessWire
- Joomla

Any others I should do research on?
posted by jb at 11:31 AM on September 3, 2020

Response by poster: Also, I should specify: I am also looking for this information so that I can better understand what a programmer is talking about if/when we talk to them. Just like you want to know some basics about cars before you buy one, I don't want to be sold on a contract without understanding anything of what I'm asking them to build. There is a lot of money and a lot of work at stake (two years of research on "fruits"), and I want to be more informed as to the tools they might be using.
posted by jb at 11:34 AM on September 3, 2020