Startups

What is www.doculicious.com ?

Doculicious.com is a web based application that offers a superior alternative to standard PDF downloads. Our application lets members design a PDF document using an online WYSIWYG designer, the system then creates a web form which can be embedded onto external websites or co-branded and accessed from doculicious.com. When someone completes the web-based form, they receive the completed PDF download, and we store the entered data into the members secure account.

The benefits of using Doculicious over a normal PDF download includes:

• Get notifications when someone completes a form.
• Set the notification email to attach the form data as a CSV and/or PDF file.
• Easily track, manage and process form entries.
• Unique tracking codes to match faxed or mailed forms to data entries.
• Form data can be downloaded as PDF or CSV.
• Removes the need to re-type or read messy, handwritten forms.
• Increases compliance by removing error-prone steps from a business workflow.
• Makes it easy for people to do business with you. Increase sales and client happiness.
• No need to change business processes.
• Create styles for a templates web form. Match them to existing site designs and branding.

Why was this site created ?

Doculicious was built as an alternative to offering normal PDF files that need to be downloaded, filled-in, printed, signed and then faxed or mailed back. We realise that many companies, organisations and Government departments require signed forms for their business, but feel that a better solution could be had. Doculicious was built to provide this solution both for the people who need to fill in the forms, and also for the companies who provide the form for their clients.

By using a doculicious PDF form instead of a standard PDF download, businesses make it simpler for their clients to conduct business with them by providing an easy way to complete their forms. They also streamline their own process and save time by having access to all the form data electronically before the paper has even arrived, allowing them to export, pre-process or followup on that information immediately. The signed paper form is still an important part of their business process, so each form can be configured with a tracking ID which can be searched on, so that when the paper form does arrive, it can be easily matched to the electronic data.

Doculicious provides tools that allow members to easily create PDF documents using an online WYSIWYG design tool. We aim to make it as easy as possible to create forms, so have pre-made templates that can be used directly or copied and modified, allowing non-designers/developers to create PDF forms. The site also provides statistics on how many times forms were viewed and downloaded. All entries made to a form can be saved and downloaded as CSV or PDF, or set up to email directly after a form has been submitted.

Who would use the site ?

The site can be used by anyone who needs a web form or PDF download. Web developers and designers would benefit greatly from the service, though the site makes it easy for anyone who requires a web form or PDF download to make one and embed it on their site.

What does it cost ?

Doculicious.com uses a freemium based subscription model with 6 levels ranging from free to $197 (USD) for the corporate based account. Each higher subscription level gets more active templates, more downloads and extra features such as being able to have entries emailed after completion, premium support and custom styles.

Who has created this site ?

The site has been built by Digital Carpenter Pty Ltd, an Australian company whose aim is to create innovative, Web 2.0 solutions for businesses and consumers.

Has the company received any funding ?

No. All development had been bootstrapped through personal savings.

What are the plans for the future ?

We are constantly working on improving doculicious and have a long list of enhancements that are currently in development, such as adding an API for programmatic creation of PDF files, adding more field types and validation, general usability enhancements like adding folders for templates etc.

Do you have screenshots ?

Front page

Embedded Example

Pricing

WYSIWYG Designer

With the launch of Doculicious.com I thought I'd take the opportunity to post a couple of examples of how it looks and works on an external site.

The original launch article has an example of a business/government form, but I also want to show a more graphical and fun one. The following is an Award Certificate that can be used for many types of occasions. The border, flower decoration and title images are all changeable, just click them to choose a different image.

This is one of the free awards certificate templates on doculicious.com, so with even just a free account you can copy this and change bits around and put it on your own site or blog. You could create more border and text images to have it work for whatever type of award you like.

<div style="margin-bottom: 20px;">Your browser does not support frames, so you can't complete this form here. However, you can <a href="http://www.doculicious.com/img/screenshots/2b9d83ae0a087d5e.pdf">click here to download a PDF file of this form</a></div>
powered by doculicious

I'm happy to finally announce the launch of our new web application, www.doculicious.com. It's been under development for the past couple of months, and is a great enhancement on the underlying technology that we've used to build our previous applications.

Doculicious is similar to our previous sites in that it allows people to create documents in their browser, the difference is that we've opened it up so that anyone can create templates and embed them on their own websites.

Because of it's support of PDF, Doculicious is perfectly placed to offer solutions similar to what a PDF file solves, and together with it's web based delivery, it can act like a web form too. We've chosen to focus on this idea of merging a web form and a PDF file, and allow the editing of a document directly in the browser using easy and simple fields, just like a web form. It's an alternative to offering a PDF download that offers many other benefits.

A Doculicious template provides a downloadable PDF, but only after the user has filled in the fields - so the PDF is complete and ready to print, fax, mail or whatever else may be required. After the form is filled out we store the details that were entered and make it accessible to the form owner. This means it can be processed straight away, the data will have less mistakes, there's no retyping or handwriting to read and it's exportable as CSV or as the original PDF. The form owner can go in and edit or add details themselves. There's also integrated notifications, redirection after submissions, editable confirmation pages and you can make unique styles for each template, allowing you to make them match any design. Templates can also be made with a tracking code so when the PDF is printed and sent back, it's easy to match up with the data in the system.

We're really happy with the current system, but we have many features we want to add, and plan on working with our existing and new clients to keep making Doculicious better.

Doculicious has a free account that gives almost all the functionality listed above (styles and redirection are the only premium features), so if you have a need for a PDF application form, or a form where you'd like the data in PDF format, or even just a standard web form, give it a try or at least check out the example page and see just a few ways it can be used www.doculicious.com

Make sure you keep reading to see the example template ...