How Easy Is It To Make A Web Form?

By Bob Ricca November 12, 2009

Lets be honest, most forms are well… boring.

And creating the HTML for a web form is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

But, believe it or not… it doesn’t have to be that way.

Our new Web Form Generator: More Powerful Than Rocky?

OK, maybe it can’t beat up Clubber Lang. But it definitely packs a punch.

In fact, dare I say – using our new editor you can build a beautiful looking form without knowing the first thing about HTML.

Not only that… its fun to use. Really.

So for those of you who used to hire a professional to make your forms look pretty – take that money and go have a beer on us. YOU’VE just been promoted to lead designer.

Show Us How You Want Your Form to Look – We’ll Do the Heavy Lifting

The new Web Form Generator makes it way easier to create an elaborate form, which when done properly will help you better communicate with your subscribers.

I’ll show you what I mean.

For this example, lets say I am the proud owner of a real estate company called “Honey & Vinegar Realty.” We currently have a form on our website which collects subscribers’ name and email. This is great, but we really feel like we could be getting more out of our list of subscribers.

So as always, I first click the “Web Forms” tab and then click the green “+ Create New Form” button, although this time I’m greeted by the new Web Form Generator (see screenshot below).

So, Let’s Make a Real Estate Signup Form!

Looking through the different form templates I find that the first one is best suitable for my website.

So I click on it, which brings me to this black box that provides me with a variety of color schemes. (see below)

I like the “Trevose” color scheme… after all it is named after my home town. So I click the blue “Load Template” button.

Now my template is loaded and the template bar has been minimized.

OK, I’ve only clicked a couple of things and my form is already looking decent… now what?

Let’s Think – What Information Do I Want to Collect From My Subscribers?

In real estate, location is key. So I think for my form it would be a great to have subscribers select areas they are interested in. This way I can segment my list and send each subscriber information that is more closely tailored to what they are looking for.

Working from top to bottom… Name and Email are already inserted into my form for me. So the next thing I’m going to want is a place for my users to pick locations.

I’ll use a “Text Element” to add an instructions sentence. In this case I’ll write – “Select the counties you are more interested in:”.

Now, I’d like them to be able to select multiple areas. Using a checkbox might be my best bet.

So I’ll create a new “Field” for each county and set the “Input Type” to be a checkbox.

I’m happy with my design but I feel like maybe I should have some sort of divider to separate the sections of the form a little bit.

So lets add one in:

And of course I can’t forget to add some some writing in my header and footer:

There you have it! A nice, professional form… without touching any HTML.

At This Point I Know Everyone Is Probably Thinking “Yeah, Yeah… Get to the Templates!”

Eric and I are now in the phase of development where we are spending most of our time cranking out form templates. We want to provide some fresh designs and ideas to take your forms to the next level.

Here are some of the ones we’ve made up to this current date:

Of Course, Your Input is The Most Important Thing of All.

If you have any ideas for form templates that you’d want made, please leave a comment.

Eric and I will be creating a lot of form templates in the up coming weeks so any inspiration and ideas you can send our way will go a long way!