Diet Soda or Regular? Orange Juice or Apple? Webforms or PDFs?

You are at a crossroads. Your workspace has been created. You have logged in and clicked over to the Forms tab. And now you face a decision point: Do you use webforms or PDF forms (or both)?

This decision – admittedly – is a bit more complicated than choosing between, say, two types of soda pop or fruit juice.

When applicants are set to begin work on application forms, they have to decide whether to fill out any given form in a web browser or in Adobe Reader/Acrobat. This training video – recently updated – explains the how-to of each approach to forms.

In this post, we lay out the reasoning and upsides for each option. If, by the end of this post, you still don’t know what to do, we have some good news for you, too.

User Story: Applying for Federal Grants When Internet Connectivity Is Limited

Grants.gov has long been attentive to the needs of applicants like Leo. One of the key benefits of the Grants.gov Workspace platform is that it can serve a range of applicant needs, including those applicants who must work on forms offline due to slow or intermittent access to internet.

How the Government Prepares Grant Application Forms – Part 3

In Parts 1 and Part 2 of this series, we discussed the two phases of developing grant application forms: content approvals by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and technical development by Grants.gov.

The time required to deploy new or updated forms largely depends on the amount of technical development that is needed.

The graphic below estimates the different deployment timelines for cosmetic, minor, moderate, and major form changes. Click on the graphic to view its full-size version.

Release 15.4 Preview: Completing Federal Grant Application Forms in Your Web Browser

In part one of our Release 15.4 preview, we introduced the process by which applicants can simplify the management of their Grants.gov accounts.

In part two of our Release 15.4 preview, we are highlighting the arrival of online Workspace forms to Grants.gov.

Previously, all federal grant applications on Grants.gov comprised Adobe PDF forms – either as a single package of forms, or – in Workspace – as downloadable individual forms. Now, federal grant applicants can complete forms within their web browser on a desktop computer, laptop, or mobile device, such as a tablet.

Meet Tricia, a federal grant applicant at a university’s office of sponsored research.

What are the appeals of using online forms vs. PDF forms? Let’s take an applicant named Tricia at a university’s office of sponsored research, as our example.