Wizards vs. Forms

From: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/09/wizards-versus-forms.php

When to use a wizard:
- When actions need to happen in a specific order.
- When there are many tasks to be done and it would be less stressful to the user to break it up into manageable parts.
- When the actions performed differ depending on what data has already been given.

When to use a form:
- When the user should know all the data they need to provide to get a task done (like when you see a form, think it's simple enough to proceed, and then the next form asks for far more. If you knew that amount of time or data was going to be required, you never would have started at that point in time.)
- When you likely have "power users." If someone is going to be using your form repeatedly, it's better to allow them to tab through the form quickly than use a wizard and have to wait for each new step to load.
- When speed/performance is an issue. One form is one hit on the server while a wizard can be many hits and many times back and forth across the network. People with slow networks will appreciate the form over the wizard.

The general guideline (not a rigid rule): "novices and infrequent users like wizards, but frequent and power users prefer forms."

While wizards can be useful, don't forget to consider the option of allowing the user to select from multiple forms.

When deciding between forms and wizards for a user's experience, don't forget to consider coding difficulty, maintainability, and efficiency.