Creating Forms

An overview on how to create forms for your website using the Gravity Forms plugin.

Overview

The GSD Site Builder system allows editors to create custom forms for their site. A form consists of HTML fields that users can fill in and submit. Forms allow site editors to control how a visitor contacts them. They are helpful when you want:

  • To keep email addresses private. Site visitors cannot see the recipient email address.
  • To request specific information from a user. Administrators can specify what fields are included in the form and what fields are required.
  • To provide users with a way to sign up to something. Depending on your requirements, your forms may be able to integrate with email newsletters, external portals, and other third-party tools.

Common website forms include contact forms, application forms, and registration forms.

This system’s form functionality is built using Gravity Forms, a third-party plugin that allows you to create a form, assign recipients, and embed the form on a page.

Gravity Forms will be added to your site during the set up phase.

Adding and Editing a Form

Including a form on your website introduces a level of data security that you must be aware of. In order to help you avoid data security issues, your site will come with a pre-built contact form that can be embedded on your site. This form will include standard fields that are commonly accepted as not infringing upon a user’s privacy and security. You do not need to use this form if you do not want a contact form on the site.

If you choose to create a new form or edit your default contact form, we recommend contacting the GSD web team so they can advise you on any data security issues related to the fields you want to add.

You can access Gravity Forms by logging into WordPress and clicking on Forms in the WordPress navigation. Here, you’ll be able to add a new form, edit an existing form, or view all submitted forms. For step-by-step instructions on how to build a form, please see Gravity Form’s documentation.

Please remember to update the admin notification setting so form submissions are sent directly to your email inbox.

Embedding a Form

Forms can be added to any page by using the Gravity Forms block. Add it to your content as you would any other block, and select the appropriate form from the dropdown.

Screenshot of the Gravity Forms plugin when it is first added. The Gravity Forms logo is at the top, and below it is a dropdown of all forms on the site.
The Gravity Forms block lets you embed existing forms to your page.

In the Block Settings tab, you will be able to turn off the form title and form description if you want. All other edits to the form must be done within for Forms section of WordPress.

In addition to embedding forms to page content, you can also embed a form in your site’s footer. This is done through the Footer settings within the Global Options tab in the WordPress navigation. If you choose to add a form to your footer, we recommend keeping it short.