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I am looking for what to call the UX idea of a form that changes based on the answers a user has entered.

For example a web form that asks:

Are you satisfied with your purchase?

If you answer yes, it displays:

How satisfied? Rate 1 (slightly) - 10 (very)

But if you answered no, it would display a support email.

And then continuing on the yes branch of questions, based on the rating, it would display different form elements such as

  • if rated 10

    Would you write a review telling others about your experience?

  • if rated 1

    Would you mind answering a few questions so we can improve?

An example of this is the Circa app prompting for reviews:

Circa app using a answer adapting form or chain

The closest name I can find is computerized adaptive testing, but that isn't quite it.

I know this type of form is common, but what do you actually call it? The Qualtrics surveys do this with what is called "Display Logic" and "Branch Logic" but to me this is saying how to do it, not what it is.

Adaptive forms? User directed forms?

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    It looks sort of like a wizard to me, but maybe you're looking for a more specific term for that kind of wizard.
    – brokethebuildagain
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 17:23
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    How about "Conditional Input Form" or "Conditional Input Display."
    – dswrites
    Commented Dec 16, 2014 at 20:59
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    +1 I just call these kinda branching situations wizards.
    – Kip
    Commented Dec 16, 2014 at 21:45
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    Just make up some new and cool term to describe it, that will make you seem smarter and hipper than everyone else. Make sure you tie it to UX so no one will call BS on it.
    – Stephen
    Commented Dec 16, 2014 at 22:18
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    Are you looking only at these question-like flows, or would you also include forms where a checkbox (i.e., "All-day meeting") turns off other fields (i.e., the meeting time from and to fields are inactive when the checkbox is checked)?
    – virtualnobi
    Commented Dec 17, 2014 at 8:48

4 Answers 4

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I use the term 'conditional input' to indicate that there are elements within the form that is conditional to the input provided by the user.

I think appending the term 'conditional' in front of a UI element suggests that they are triggered by a particular condition.

Remember that it is not necessarily the entire form that changes, but just specific elements within the form that are subjective to different logic.

If you are talking about a form that completely changes due to certain input, then it is probably not really the same form that you are filling out, and therefore it is just a decision process before you get directed to one form or another.

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I don't think there is a different name for the form itself. The form is still a form - except that maybe it borders on becoming a survey! When you start creating the form you shouldn't need to decide whether you need a straight form or an 'adaptive form' - you should be able to decide at any point - and add or remove the logic at any time.

You don't need any change in nomenclature of the components in the forms or for the forms themselves - they remain the same. It is simply the logic in the navigation between the content that changes.

SurveyMonkey, for example, call this routing process Skip Logic. You can have Question Skip Logic or Page Skip Logic.

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In marketing lingo, it's called qualifying question or filter question.

I doubt there's a proper technical term, it's more like two things mixed up: that it's a form and that it's reactive / dynamic / conditional. But if you need a catchy name, how about responsive form?

In a web based solution, a form would be done in HTML (<form>, <input>, ...), whereas a reactive UI requires JavaScript for the interactivity.

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When I've seen these in the past they have always been called Conditional Logic forms

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