Whilst the form is hopefully pretty simple to use there are some bits that catch people out. So here are some hints and tips that will probably grow as I add more features. Contributions welcome in the comments.
| Setup | |
| Creating a new form | You can create new forms on the Setup page. Enter name of the form (just letters, no spaces, numbers or punctuation) and the email address you want to use. When you update the page the new form will appear in the list. You can now edit the form settings and styles. |
| Adding a form to your site | To add a form to your posts and pages use the shortcode Ouch! There was a server error. Retry » Ouch! There was a server error. Retry » |
| Akismet | If you have an Akismet account enter your API code here for a second layer of spam protection (there is an optional captcha in the Form Settings). |
| Deleting a form | To delete a form use the ‘Delete’ button on the Setup page. You also have the option to reset everything to factory (default settings). |
| Form Selection | If you have more than one form use the selector at the top of each settings to swap between them. If you have made any changes to a form make sure you save the settings before selecting a new form. |
| Form Settings | |
| Form title and blurb | This is the info that appears at the top of the form. It uses you theme H2 and paragraph settings unless you change how they look on the Styling page. |
| Form Fields | The fields you display on the form are set on the Form Settings page along with various options. Change the order they appear on the form by dragging up and down. |
| Submit Button | Edit the submit button text |
| Attachments | |
| Activation | Check the box if you want to accept attachments. |
| Settings | Edit the attachment settings. Make sure you limit the permitted filetypes and file sizes |
| Field Width | This is really flakey because all browsers and devices display the upload options differently. I’ve tried all sorts of options and there is no simple way to fix this. |
| Error Messages | Edit the error messages that will display for the various conditions. |
| Styling | |
| Form Width | Set this on the styling page. At the moment you can only set to 100% (responsive) or a fixed pixel width. |
| Border | If you want a border you can change the style using a CSS shortcode. The format is: thickness type colour. All the options are explained on the W3C schools page. |
| Background | You can select a solid colour or upload an image as the form background. If the image is smaller than the form it will tile (repeat). |
| Colour Selector | This is a WordPress function. Click on the button and choose your colour. You can add a hex code or clear the selection. To close the selector click on ‘current color’. |
| Font Styles | Select to use your theme fonts styles or the plugin styles |
| Fonts Options | There are 4 font types: input fields, other text content, error messages and submit button. You can set the font face, size, colours and borders where applicable. |
| Custom CSS | If you want a style not listed in the Styling page you can create your own. To apply the style check the ‘Use Custom CSS’ box. |
| Send Options | |
| Send Function | There are three ways to send message: php mail, wp-mail and SMTP. If messages get blocked try using a different option. Hotmail, Gmail, AOL and others can block messages or even be blocked. There is some more help on the this troubleshooting guide.If you want to use SMTP, click on the link and make sure you have set the settings. If there is an error the plugin will tell you when to send the test message. |
| BCC | If you want to hide email address use this option |
| Email subject | You can build the email subject using a free text field and preset options (sender’s name, subject field, page or leave it blank |
| Redirection | Use this option to redirect the visitor to a new page instead of reloading the current page with a thank you message. |
| Thank you message | This is what the visitor will see if their message is submitted successfully. You have the option to show them what they have sent. |
| Email message | You can send a thank you message to the sender with an option to include a copy of their email |
| Reload Page | Use this option to reload the page after a set number of seconds. This will clear the thank you message and put the form back up. |
| Errors | |
| Error title and blurb | This is the error message that appears at the top of the form. It uses your theme H2 and paragraph settings unless you change how they look on the Styling page. |
| Error Messages | Edit the error messages that appear for each of the form fields. There are options to validate telephone numbers and email addresses even if these fields are not mandatory. If you check these and the visitor ignores the field nothing gets validated. If they enter an email address or telephone number then it will get validated. |
| Reset | |
| Pretty much does what it says on the box. Use this to reset or delete forms. The only form you can’t delete is the default Ouch! There was a server error. Retry » |
