When we first established the MX8 Labs Research Platform, we hadn't limited the configuration you could provide for your surveys. Nowadays, they are configurable through the theme tab, with a live preview of the chat experience alongside the controls.
The style specifies whether to use a traditional web forms style or the mobile-friendly chat style. For a full comparison of the two — including pros and cons, head-to-head performance, and guidance on when to choose each — see Traditional or Chat based survey experience?. For a per-instrument breakdown of how each question type renders in each style, see the Chat vs. Traditional compatibility matrix.
In either orientation you have the following options you can configure:
- Main color - this is the primary color used as a highlight color.
- Secondary - this is the background color for the text.
- Icon - the icon is only shown in portrait orientation. It defaults to a picture of an AI-generated woman called Shanna. Pick from the dropdown — it shows thumbnail previews for each of the preset icons and any custom icons you have uploaded to your account.
- Background - the background image. This should be a tileable image, which means it is seamless when repeated. The dropdown lists the preset backgrounds and any uploaded custom imagery.
- Line 1 - for the portrait orientation, this is the phrase shown at the top
- Line 2 - for the portrait orientation, this is the second phrase shown at the top.
- Multichoice - this is the English-language message shown to the user when we want them to choose one of multiple choices.
- Multiselect - this is the English-language message shown to the user when we want them to choose one or more of multiple choices.
- Others - this is the English-language message shown to the user for text-based questions.
Note that any messages you enter in the theme will automatically be included in the translations for the survey.
Images
The Icon and Background dropdowns expose the presets listed below. You can also enter any public URL on the internet to use your own image, or upload a custom image to your account so it appears alongside the presets in the picker:
| Path | Image |
|---|---|
| /themes/shanna/shanna.jpeg |  |
| /themes/chipmunk/chipmunk.png |  |
| /themes/john/john.png |  |
| /themes/robo/robo.png |  |
| /themes/shanna/background.jpeg |  |
| /themes/chipmunk/chipmunk-bg.jpeg |  |
| /themes/john/john-bg.jpeg |  |
| /themes/robo/bg.jpeg |  |