Creating Forms

Forms are specialized components of webpages that you can use to add more interactive features to your site. Usually they're used to give the visitor a way of sending you some information. For example, a feedback form or an order form.

Here is an example of a form:

Name:
Click here if you own a car:
What brand?
Are you over 18?Yes
No

Notice that you can write something in the name field, click on the checkbox, choose something from the pulldown menu, and select one of the radio buttons.

In order to use forms, you need to be logged in as a Professional mode user. If you aren't already, go to the section and make sure that you select from the pulldown menu: , fill in your username and password, and press the button.

Then, to activate the use of forms in your site, you need to first go to the section and click Yes to the question "Are you going to use forms on this site?".

Then, you go into , into the Page Contents view of one of your pages, and you can start adding forms elements. Be sure that the button was checked so you edit the page in element mode.

You pick from the menu of forms elements in the New Element section:

The first thing you always need is a Form Container. The other form elements go "inside" the form container, and will only work when there's a form container around them.

The form container will show in your list of elements, starting with form start ** and ending with form end **. That means that the other form elements need to go between those boundaries.

When you create the form container and the element edit window pops up, the main thing you would need to configure is what action the form should do when submitted. The most common action is to send the results to an e-mail account. So, you would select the action in the pulldown menu:

entering your own e-mail address in the field next to it.

To add the first element in your form, place the pointer in the orange "Current Elements" section on the form start ** element. Then select the element you want to add in the element list down in the green section. Let's try to create the form shown at the top of this page.

First is the name. That is a simple text entry field. So, choose Form Text Field from the new element list. Then the element edit screen pops up with the options for the text field:

Enter the values as shown and save it. The form, with your Name field should show up in the page preview window at the bottom.

Next we'll do a checkbox. Place the pointer on the (Visitor's Name) textfield entry in the top orange section. Then select Form Checkbox in the bottom green section, and press Add New Element. You'll get an element edit screen which you can fill in like this:

and press Save.

Then let's do a pull-down menu to find out what type of car they own. Place the pointer on the element you just made, (car ownership) checkbox and choose Form Pulldown Menu from the new element list, and press Add New Element. Fill in the element edit screen like this:

and press Save.

Finally, let's do a set of radio buttons. Place the pointer on the element you just made, (Brand) pulldown and choose Form Radio Buttons from the new element list, and press Add New Element. Fill in the element edit screen like this:

and press Save.

And there you have it. You now have a form like the one we showed above. You can of course do all sorts of different forms by making more fields and by calling the fields different things.