andisites: best wordpress forms plugins (online version)
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The Best Forms Plugins for Your WordPress Website & How to Use Them
DMFB 2015, Raleigh, NC
What can forms be used for?
• Not just for “Contact Us” anymore• Applications, quizzes, sign-ups, surveys,
pre-screenings, registrations… • Be creative!
5 Parts to a Forms Plugin
• The form itself• The email notification sent to you• The email notification sent to the
submitter• Putting the form on your site• Other cool stuff
Safety & Security
• Known-safe plugins• No personal info (SSN, credit cards)• SSL certificates (can protect per-page)• reCAPTCHA
Old style
New style
Free vs Premium
Depends on what you need it for…the free version may be sufficient now, then you can upgrade later if you need to
Our Favorites
Free Free & Premium Premium Only
Contact Form 7The Form Itself
(requires additional plugin)
Contact Form 7The Email Notification to You
Contact Form 7The Email Notification to the Submitter
Contact Form 7Putting the Form on Your Site
Widget is also available in some themes (but not all)
Contact Form 7The Front-End
Notice that fields go all the way across…no easy way to format.
Contact Form 7Other Cool Stuff
No other cool stuff…just makes simple forms.
Formidable FreeThe Form Itself - Fields
Formidable FreeThe Form Itself - Layout
Formidable FreeThe Email Notification to You
Formidable FreeThe Email Notification to the Submitter
Other actions-on-submit are easily defined as well.
Formidable Free
Inserting a form onto a pageInserting a form as a widget
Putting the Form on Your Site
Formidable FreeThe Front-End
Notice prettier layout…can easily put multiple fields on a single line.
Formidable FreeOther Cool Stuff - Entries
NOTE: Can only view entries with Free…can’t export or report.
Formidable FreeOther Cool Stuff – Import/Export Forms
Can easily duplicate forms from one website on another.
Formidable FreeOther Cool Stuff - Built-In Form Styling (NEW!)
Formidable Free vs Pro
Formidable ProConditional Logic
Very powerful…can show or hide fields based on what a user chooses.
Formidable Pro
Third Party Add-Ons/Integrations:Stripe, Affiliate WP, Pro PDF Extended, ToolTips, Anti-Spam, GeoCoding, Email Shortcode, Customizations, Newsletter…more all the time…
Included Add-Ons
Formidable ProReporting
Gravity FormsThe Form Itself - Fields
Gravity FormsThe Form Itself - Layout
Not as easy as they suggest…must find, copy, and paste shortcodes to control form layout.
Gravity FormsThe Form Itself – Conditional Logic
Gravity FormsThe Email Notification to You
Gravity FormsThe Email Notification to the Submitter
Gravity FormsInserting a form onto a page
Inserting a form in a widgetPutting the Form on Your Site
Gravity FormsThe Front-End
Notice old-style Captcha…must use additional plugin for new style
Gravity FormsOther Cool Stuff – PayPal / e-Commerce
Gravity Forms is much easier than Formidable for e-commerce…more gateways, simpler setup
Formidable Pro vs Gravity Forms
http://denislam.com/formidable-pro-vs-gravity-forms/
Formidable Pro vs Gravity Forms
Choose Formidable Pro If: Choose Gravity Forms If:
• You’d like to style your forms without having to know CSS
• You need a simple PayPal option• You need a form with multiple
pages• You’re working with WP Multisite
• You need advanced and complex multi-page forms
• You’d like a bigger selection of field types
• You need advanced ecommerce• You’d like to code extra functions and
enhance your forms using the Gravity Forms framework
• You’d like to schedule forms to only be available during certain dates
Formidable Pro vs Gravity Forms
