Forms

Web forms can gather and organize information about your users, allow users to ask questions, or be used as applications or interest forms to kick off program or departmental processes.

As a contributor, you can:

• Create a form folder to contain various form fields that make up a form.
• Add form fields where a user inputs information onto a form.
  • Use a variety of form fields and adapters.
• Edit field settings or delete fields as needed.

Best Practices

Forms open up a direct channel of communication with your website visitors.

Before you begin developing a form for your web page, we recommend considering these best practices:

• Keep forms short and simple
  • Analytics shows that users are less likely to complete long and complex forms.
  • We suggest limiting the number of fields to the essential information you need from a visitor at that moment.
• Use appropriate language
  • Use call-to-action statements to encourage users to fill out the form.
  • Refer to the Web Style Guide for advice. 
• Organize well
  •  Consider organizing your forms in a way that is natural for users to fill out.

Form Fields and Adapters

There are many form fields you can add to your form. Some fields are automatically generated when creating a form; others you can add via the Add New... selection in Plone's side menu.

Fields

This section outlines some of the most common fields you can add to your form, with examples of what the field looks like when published, as well as an explanation on the settings of each field. 

• Checkbox Field: Add a checkbox to your form, prompting the user to agree or disagree with the information you provide.
• Multi-Select Field: Create a section on your form that houses various options for your user to select.
• String Field: A one-line, compact field that allows the user to input brief information.
• Text Field: Similar idea to a String Field (collecting information the user types in), but a larger text box. This is useful when prompting a user for a few sentences of feedback.

Adapters

The Mailer and Save Data Adapter are areas of your form that allow you to set who receives email notifications of user-submitted data and an option that allows you to save data submitted into a CSV file, easily accessible from your form.

• Mailer Adapter: When a user submits a form, use the Mailer Adapter to set up who receives an email notification with the data they submitted.
• Save Data Adapter: A component that can be added to your form allowing for automatic storage of a user's form-submitted data in a CSV file. This is useful for easily accessing ongoing form data in one convenient spot within your form.