FormBuilder

Requirements

• Typst (to render the PDF)
• Deno (to modify the PDF with lib-pdf to add form fields)
• Yarn (to install lib-pdf)

Usage

To run the program, simply run:

yarn # Install dependencies
deno run build.ts # Run build script.

You will be prompted for a form to build. Inputting sample will cause the program to use the file sample.kdl as input and write to sample.pdf as output.

Warning

Any KDL values typed as content will be evaluated as Typst markup! Make sure you trust any and all content-typed values in the supplied .kdl document.

Accessibility of Produced Forms

The Good

• Document flow reflects visual layout.
• Tab order reflects item enumeration.
• Fields are always placed next to their descriptive text.
• Heading levels cannot not skipped. We assign heading levels based on actual usage within a specific document, rather than a predefined default.

The Bad

• As far as I can tell, pdf-lib does not support adding tooltips or radio button choice descriptive text. If you know of a Java/TypeScript library able to modify these to add accessibility information, please open an issue or contact me directly.
  • The library does not need to be able to create form fields directly, as descriptive text can be retrofitted as a postprocessing step after pdf-lib.

The Ugly

• While we name segments "Part" and "Section", Typst does not support Part and Section PDF tags. H1 and H2 tags are used in their place.
  • It's unclear to me which of these tags is actually preferred between the sets.
• Fence elements should probably be tagged as some sort of header/part/section, but I'm not sure what makes the most semantic sense. They are currently untagged.
• pdf-lib does not support "no background color" on form fields, which obstructs some flexibility. If you know of a Java/TypeScript library able to remove background colors from form fields, please open an issue or contact me directly.

Hey, these look a lot like [INSERT FAVORITE TAX FORM]...

Yes! It was entirely my intention to reproduce the style of certain IRS Tax Forms. In particular, I took a lot of inspiration from the following:

• IRS Form 56-F, Rev. December 2022
• IRS Form 433-A, Rev. July 2022 (table support eventually™!)
• IRS Form 461, Rev. February 2025

Please, do not create forms purporting to be published by the IRS. The IRS performs a public service, and taxes can be difficult enough to navigate without fake forms floating about.

(My favorite form is Form 172, Rev. December 2024; in particular, Part I. What is even going on here? I must know how this was determined to be the best representation.)