Interview Designer - Learning Guide

This guide introduces the Interview Designer feature in XpressDox and explains how to use it to improve the structure, layout, and usability of interviews.

Interview Designer allows you to visually design interviews while XpressDox automatically generates the required template code in the background.

 

What is Interview Designer?

Interview Designer is a visual interview-building tool available in the XpressDox authoring tools in Microsoft Word.

It allows you to:

• Edit captions, headings, and help text
• Arrange and align fields
• Group questions using tabs
• Apply global styling to interviews

All changes are reflected immediately in a live interview preview.

 

Opening Interview Designer

1. Open your template in Microsoft Word
2. Click Interview Designer in the XpressDox ribbon

 

The screen is divided into:

• An interview preview showing how the interview will appear to users
• A panel listing data elements and interview structure

 

 

Editing Captions, Headings, and Help Text

Select any field in the interview preview to edit its properties.

You can change:

• Heading text displayed above the field
• Caption text displayed next to or above the field
• Footing text displayed below the field
• Help text displayed as hover help

Text formatting options include font, size, style, and colour.

 

Adding Headings

Headings can be added to visually group related fields, such as client or billing information.

Headings can be styled independently and help guide users through the interview.

Aligning Fields Side by Side

Fields can be placed next to each other to create a more compact layout.

Use the grab handle on each field to:

• Drag fields into position
• Align fields horizontally
• Reorder fields within a section

 

Managing Global Interview Settings

Use the settings icon to adjust interview-wide options.

These include:

• Interview font
• Caption font size
• Caption placement (left of field or above field)
• Global heading and footing styles

Placing captions above fields allows for longer labels and works well with tabbed interviews.

Viewing Fields by Caption or Data Element Name

The data element panel can be switched between:

• Data element names
• Captions

This is useful when working with data sources that use complex or non-descriptive field names.

 

Using Tabs to Organise Interviews

Tabs allow you to split long interviews into clear sections.

To add a tab:

1. Click Add New Tab
2. Enter a tab name

Tabs can appear on the left or at the top of the interview.

 

Assigning Fields to Tabs

Fields can be moved into tabs by:

• Dragging fields from the interview preview
• Selecting one or more fields in the data element panel and dragging them to a tab

Fields not yet assigned appear in the Unallocated tab.

 

Reordering Fields

Fields within a tab can be reordered using their grab handles.

This allows you to control the flow of questions within each section.

 

Saving and Running the Template

When you close Interview Designer:

• Code template is automatically created
• The code template is saved in the same folder as the main template
• The interview layout is preserved

Run the template to see the updated interview.

 

Understanding the Generated Code Template

Interview Designer creates a code template containing:

• Tab definitions
• Captions
• Headings
• Styling rules

This code is commented and can be edited manually if needed.

The code template can also be reused across multiple templates.

 

Key Points to Remember

• Interview Designer improves usability without changing document logic
• All interview code is generated automatically
• Included templates must be saved manually
• Interview Designer is optional but recommended for building user-friendly interviews

 

Summary

Interview Designer provides a visual, structured way to build clear and consistent interviews. It helps reduce manual coding, improves the user experience, and makes complex interviews easier to maintain.