A few weeks back I posted here on adding a form to your web site using a provider called EmailMeForm.com. I had used their service to prepare a basic contact form for another web site I maintain, finding their form creation process simple and the appearance of the form pleasing, which lead me to post about the service here. However, I recently discovered that some visitors were getting a pop-up window upon their completion of the form which loads a totally unrelated web site (this did not occur in my initial testing or the first several weeks of use); when I attempted to reach EmailMeForm about the matter I did not receive a response. Accordingly, I set out to create a replacement form for my site and discovered FormSmarts.com, which is even easier to use and contains no ads or pop-up windows. As no HTML coding is needed, FormSmarts is a convenient form-creation solution for WebSpawner users, and after thorough testing I feel the service is worthy of recommendation.
To create and add a FormSmarts form to your own WebSpawner web site, you will first need to create a free FormSmarts account. Open a new browser window and go to FormSmarts.com, then click the Sign Up link near the top of the page. A secure sign-up form will appear, as shown below:
Enter your First and Last Name and your valid Email address; type in a Password and type it again to Confirm Password, and use the pull-down menus to select your Activity and Country. Click to place a check in the box to agree with the terms of use (after reading them of course), then click the Sign me up! button.
You should see a message confirming the creation of your account and advising that you must confirm your email address next to activate it. Check your email to receive a message from FormSmarts.com like the one shown below, and click the link to confirm your email address:
A new FormSmarts window will open in your browser, confirming “Registration Complete”. Click Sign in and create forms now >> at the bottom of that window to proceed.
On the next screen, enter your Email address and your Password, then click the Sign in button:
Now that you’ve created your account, confirmed your email, and signed in, you’re ready to build a form for your site. You should see a My Web Forms screen with three tabs labeled Forms, Fields, and Settings, like the one below (click the Forms tab to bring it to the front if it is not currently selected as shown):
Under ‘Create a form’ enter a Form Name which you will use to identify your form, such as “Contact Form.” Enter a Form Title such as “Contact Me.” The Form Filling Instructions field is optional; you can enter instructions there if you like, following the example provided. Under Return URL enter the complete URL address (including the http:// portion) for your WebSpawner web site. Then click the Create Form button. You should see a message confirming the creation of your form like the one below:
Click add fields as shown (or just click the Fields tab near the top) to proceed… the screen will update as shown here:
As indicated, “No fields are attached to this form” yet so you need to add the fields as you wish. Click in the box and enter a Field Name and Description for your first field. Use the pull-down menu to select an appropriate Data Type and Widget for the field, and under the Optional menu select “Yes” to allow a user the option to submit the form without filling in this field, or select “No” to require the user to complete the field before submission. Click the Add Field button to add this new field to your form. Then repeat these steps to add each additional field, as shown in the example below:
Note that you can have 4 fields per form in a free FormSmarts account; an optional paid upgrade to “FormSmarts Pro” is available for additional fields and features. You can edit any field by clicking the small pencil icon if needed.
At this point you are now finished with the form creation and just need to add the form to your web site (covered below). By default, when a visitor completes your form FormSmarts will send an email containing the visitor’s input to the Email Address you provided during creation of your account. If you want a copy of the form input emails to be sent to an additional email address, you can do this as well; click the Settings tab as shown above to proceed. The screen will then refresh; click the Form Recipients link under the Settings tab:
Under “Add a Recipient” enter the Name and Email address which you would like to have receive a copy of every form input message, then click the Add button, as shown below:
When you are finished making your changes to your form and are ready to add it to your web site, click the Forms tab at the top again. Next to your form, under the “Embed” heading, click inside the box (which contains the needed code for your new form) as shown below.
The code in the box should be selected; Copy it using Control-C on a Windows computer or Command-C on a Mac.
Now you are ready to open a new window in your web browser and log into your WebSpawner website account at www.WebSpawner.com (hint: keep the FormSmarts window with the code open in case you make a mistake and need to copy it again).
In the WebSpawner Member Menu, click to select the page to which you would like to add your new form, then click the Modify button.
In the Modification form, scroll down to the Body Text step and click inside the text box where you would like your form to appear. Now Paste in the copied code (Control-V on Windows or Command-V on Mac). Complete the modification process by clicking ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the form, and then click ‘I Like It’ at the test page preview to publish your changes.
Your website will now include your new form, similar to the example shown below. When a visitor completes the form on your site, the information entered will be sent to you promptly in an email message from FormSmarts.com.
