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Recently, a friend of mine asked me how to create a survey easily for free. All the tools he has found were limited in their free version. I remembered that Google Docs provides such a feature. I used it some time ago and it worked pretty well.

That’s also a good idea for a new article. I will show you how to create a survey on Google Docs and how to consult its results.

First of all, go on the Google Docs application. Of course, you need at least a Google account. Then, create a new form.

Google Docs

Your new form shows up in edition mode. You can build your form by adding different type of answers to your questions :

• Short text
• Long text (paragraph)
• Multiple choice
• Checkboxes
• Choose from a list
• Scale
• Grid

Questions can be personalized, depending on the user’s answers. In my example, if the user answers that he likes computing, I’m asking him what programming language he prefers. You can do that by using pages into your form. If computing is selected, the next page is specific about computing, otherwise it is the next page.

Survey edition

In few minutes, I have finished my sample survey, let’s see how does it look! Simply click on the link generated below.

Survey preview

Here we are, you can test but don’t submit the form on the last page. This is not simply a preview, but the final survey!

Default plain theme is not very sexy, you can change it by returning to the edition mode and click on “Theme: Plain”. At this time, about a hundred themes are available, you will certainly find one that matches your needs.

Ok, let’s choose the disco theme.

Disco survey

That’s far better!

Your survey is now ready and you can send the link to all your friends.

Some days have passed, what about the participation? You can check the answers by opening your form again in Google Docs. It will open in the spreadsheet mode. The number of lines tells you how many people have answered to your survey. If you want to go back to the survey, click on Form → Go to live form. Note that it is still possible to modify the survey’s structure (Form → Edit form). Be very careful with that. Especially if some people have started to reply, you risk to mess up your data and the final result will not be good…

Survey answers spreadsheet

4 people have replied, Google provides a statistical preview of the result with some useful graphs. To access it, click on Form → Show summary of responses.

Survey answers preview

The results page is read-only. If you are not satisfied with this, you will have to export the results table, open it with your favorite spreadsheet processor and create your own graphs.

Other features exist such as making a question mandatory, adding an help text, sharing your survey on social networks, closing it, etc.

You can try the sample survey I have created for this post.

Dropbox is a sharing “box” where you can sync any type of file. It’s a kind of mini personal SVN…

Any file you save to Dropbox also instantly saves to your computers (and your smartphones), and the Dropbox website.

Extensible storage space

At first, you have 2 Gb of online storage. Then you can extend your Dropbox up to 8 Gb through invitations. There are also two premium subscriptions, 50 and 100 Gb.

Also, an invited user get an extra 250 Mb of Dropbox storage.

System integration

Dropbox works with most systems : Windows, Mac, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. I am using it with Windows 7, XP and Ubuntu, Dropbox is fully integrated to the system with notifications, a context menu, small icons on synchronizing files…

Advanced file management

Dropbox keeps a one-month history of your files. You can restore deleted files (or permanently delete them), any changes can be undone… You can also select folders that you do not want to synchronize.

Internet connection

The bandwidth used by Dropbox may be set manually to avoid hogging your connection. The Dropbox works even when offline, it will synchronize the next time you will be connected.

Simple sharing

You can easily share a folder of your Dropbox with another user, he will access it from his own Dropbox. You can use public links to share files with people not registered on Dropbox. Finally, a folder containing photos can be viewed as a gallery / slideshow on the website of Dropbox.

I use this software recently and now I can’t do without ! I invite you to use this link to create your account and get the 250 Mb of extra storage.

Progressbar is a JQuery plugin to display a progressbar. Input is a percentage and output is the graphic bar. You can modify its visual style with CSS.

From a time interval (two dates), the current date and a conversion (to calcultate the progress percentage), we can easily realize a time progressbar.

Here is the result through an example.

Fill out the start and end date of the project using JQuery Datepicker. The progress is refreshed with Javascript in relation to the current date.

Additional buttons enable you to change the project’s dates day by day and change the progress as well.

You can download the source code… Use it and modify it according to your wishes !