Pens and ink
Forms are best completed neatly, in capital letters, using a black ball-point, gel, or capillary pen (dark blue and violet are also acceptable). Soft-tip and felt-tip pens are not recommended, because characters are likely to be very thick, causing recognition problems. Recognition is worst for forms completed in pencil or light ink.Letter size and style
For best recognition results, complete forms in block capital letters. The letters must fill the character cells but must not overlap the cell borders. If character cells are visually marked on the form (for example, letters in frames or letters in separate frames), the person filling out the form is less likely to join the letters together. The following text marking types present greater problems for recognition: text in a frame with a comb, and letters on a comb. With these types, only the width of the character cell is predefined, and the absence of side borders makes it possible to join letters together. With a comb and no frame, the letters can be written either too small or too large. If text in a frame or text over a line is used, there is no evident restriction on the width of the character cells. The letters may be joined together, which reduces recognition quality. With text over a line, there is also no restriction on character height, so this marking type is not recommended for forms that require a high degree of recognition accuracy. Another important requirement is that the letters do not overlap the field borders. This is not so crucial for dropout or black-and-white raster forms, because the field borders disappear during scanning and despeckling. However, if letters overlap the field borders on black-and-white linear forms, recognition quality may decrease significantly.Sample
To encourage correct completion, include a note on your form similar to the following.