Looking for simple, free, web forms

September 24, 2007 8:58 PM

I'm looking for a web service that would host, for free, a web form that would allow kids to sign up for time slots for one-on-one conferences in my school library.

I have a couple open periods in my week wherein kids come down to the library and talk about their current reading. It's a great opportunity, but if too many kids show then some end up sitting and waiting without ever having a conference. My idea is to have a web form that would show these open periods and allow kids to sign up. I could check the form to see who was coming, and what book they wanted to discuss. Other kids could check to see if all the slots were filled.

So- I know this is a simple piece of programming, but I have almost no web savvy. My district web person told me to use Dreamweaver to hook to a database. I'm thinking somebody must host a site that allows something like this. Any suggestions?

Last miniquestion. 6 months or a year ago, I heard about a novel system for doing web forms that avoided the use of databases entirely, embedding the content (that would normally drop into a database) into a script instead. I'm sure I'm butchering the concept, but does anyone recognize what I'm talking about? I may have heard about it on askme...

posted by carterk to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Could this not be set-up and hosted by the school system? It sure seems like a perfect use of the system.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:17 PM on September 24, 2007

Yeah, but the district tells me I'm on my own. I'm looking for a turnkey solution that allows me to get down to the business of working with kids.
posted by carterk at 9:26 PM on September 24, 2007

The free version of Formassembly.com has an RSS feed - you could set up a form with a list of the open times and maybe the hook the responses into a webpage, or get the kids to check the feed directly.

not very elegant ...
posted by doublesix at 9:26 PM on September 24, 2007

Any particular reason you can't use an old fashioned sign up sheet, btw?
posted by doublesix at 9:28 PM on September 24, 2007

Only because I want kids to be able to sign up and check for slots from their classrooms.
posted by carterk at 9:31 PM on September 24, 2007

I'm rather fond of Wufoo, but it is only a form generator and collector. It won't do the scheduling for you.
posted by bradlands at 10:03 PM on September 24, 2007

What about something like this?
posted by MiaWallace at 10:39 PM on September 24, 2007

Cool- those last 2 sites look like they're the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks!
posted by carterk at 11:06 PM on September 24, 2007

There is also Surveymonkey.
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:10 AM on September 25, 2007

If the kids can be under 13, this falls under COPPA. So make sure your form complies.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 11:31 PM on September 25, 2007