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ELMER , is a comprehensive set of principles and specifications for the design of Internet-based forms.
The Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry has decided that the most recent version, ELMER2, shall be the common guidelines for user interfaces in Norwegian public forms for enterprises on the Internet. All public forms in Norway shall be based on the ELMER guidelines within the end of 2008.
The Norwegian authorities emphasize that simplification of public forms is important to improve communication between the users and the public sector. The idea is expressed like this in the preface of the guidelines:
"The proceeding transition to electronic reporting may be an important simplification measure for the respondents, but only if the Internet-based solutions are felt to be more user friendly than the old paper versions. By applying good pedagogical principles, electronic forms may also ensure a better understanding of the task, better validation of the data before submission, and by that even better response quality and more efficient processing by the relevant authority."