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I always use tabs with an underline leader. The method of creating lines, then anchoring them in text makes for sloppy editing later. And using repeated underscores doesn't allow for proper alignment. Another option, depending upon desired design, is to use Paragraph Rules: If I want anything containing more rules than these two methods I move to ...

The layout feels uncomfortable because it is unbalanced, like putting a filing cabinet on one end of a see-saw and nothing on the other. Probably the simplest solution to this is to put the labels in line with their respective fields, instead of above them. Since we're not in a sidebar, there's no reason to be parsimonious with horizontals. Left-align the ...

Tables! Laying out in tables in InDesign is awesome for forms. You can stroke the bottom of a cell for the text field, make small uniform stroked cells for checkboxes, and use a character or paste in an image for a radio button. Unless you merge cells weirdly, everything has to line up.

Interesting question! Perhaps you could give the user more space to work with, and then encourage them to fill in the form the way you want them to. Consider the following: 1 shows that having a short line will encourage smaller writing, even if you have a lot of white space to work with. But lengthening the line in 2 doesn't change anything, since the ...

In addition, one could use Character styles with underline option turned on. For instance "Body" paragraph styled text might be converted with additional "Overline" character style, which has an offset underline and well positioned tabs (see example image). Like in Scott's answer, for simple forms, tables are not necessary needed.

You should be using I most often see use of the line tool in InDesign for form field lines. Adding lines in-line with text works fine. This method allows you to quickly convert your PDF output file to a fill-in form since Adobe Live Cycle can read these lined areas as fields.

why not convert to .pdf forms? You can validate the data with JavaScript and create an email option just like a form on a website. Is there a reason you have to do handwritten forms? Have you thought about adding a caption in regards to print clearly? What exactly are you needing the forms for? If we had a little but more info I know this site can ...

This might give you an idea: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/04/17/web-form-design-modern-solutions-and-creative-ideas/ There are few things to consider when re-designing form elements: You need figure out if all of your form elements can truly be modified by CSS only. Some form elements can't be designed/changed (file browse element for example). ...

I'm assuming that you're making this for print. Automating the little boxes is actually quite easy using InDesign's built-in "Step and Repeat" function, which was added in CS3 or CS4. Create the first little box, 1 cm square (or whatever) with no fill and a .25 point stroke. Press Ctl-Alt-U (Mac Cmd-Opt-U) to bring up the Step and Repeat dialog. Enter 1 cm ...

Double them up. Name [ ] Username [ ] Company [ ] Email [ ] Password [ ] Password Again [ ] If form fields don't work at 100% width I always double up the fields so that they fill the content and are still aesthetically pleasing.