When to use PDF forms and when to use HTML forms

PDF vs. HTML forms

Question: Are there guidelines for determining when to use PDF forms and when to use HTML forms? Is one choice better than the other for high-volume, sensitive information?--CreativeDesign

The litmus test, to me, for one would be whether the appearance of the form was critical to its usefulness, and the difficulty in rendering that appearance in HTML vs. Distilling or converting to PDF from the form's source application Word, QuarkXPress, PageMaker etc. But there are so many other issues (such as will they be used on an intranet or the Internet? Is it mandatory they be viewed in a browser?) that this query could be debated for an eternity.--Steve Aylor

We believe that a form provided to Internet clients/users should be fill-able, locally saveable (for future editing purpose), and printable, without requiring the clients/users to installed any additional software. There are advantages and disadvantages using either HTML forms or PDF forms, however, combining the good features of both formats will be the best policy. For your reference, there are some samples at http://www.efoview.com/demo.htm.--Jim Su