Beyond Simple Contact Forms: Collecting Data with Gravity Forms
Beyond Simple Contact Forms: Collecting Data with Gravity Forms
WordPress is a great web publishing system, but when it comes to collecting user data through a web-based form you’ll need to turn to a plugin to extend the core WP system. If you just need a simple contact form there are many good options to choose from, including CForms, Contact Form 7 and the Dagon Design Contact Form.
Frequently, though, you need more functionality than a simple contact form plugin provides. You might have more sophisticated data validation requirements, or maybe you want to allow users to upload files, or you might need to schedule your form to only accept submissions during a limited timeframe. While most competent web developers can easily create scripts to meet these requirements, let’s face it — it’s tedious work. Fortunately WordPress developers have a new power tool at their disposal: Gravity Forms.
Gravity Forms makes the creation of complex data collection forms easy. Not only that, it also manages the submitted data for you.
In this video I demonstrate the Gravity Forms plugin by creating a moderately complex job application form. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is.
If you just need a simple contact form, then Gravity Forms probably isn’t for you. It’s a premium plugin — that means you’ll have to pay for it. If, on the other hand, you have even slightly more advanced needs, then Gravity Forms will pay for itself in the time you save by not having to build custom data collection forms.
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Using WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins allow bloggers to easily add additional functionality to their blogs. There are a huge number of plugins available that extend the functionality of WordPress.
What can you do with a WordPress plugin? Just about anything. There are plugins to block spam, help you publish a podcast, and to improve the performance of your WordPress blog. If you have some specific need that is not yet accommodated by the core WordPress code-base, chances are there’s a plugin to meet your needs.
This video is an introduction to working with WordPress plugins.
