[eranm]

Hi Publii folks

I’m coming from the WordPress world (probably like a lot of you) where I’m used to the nearly infinite options available for creating forms when using a plugin like Gravity Forms.

What’s something equivalent to that for Publii, because I tried Google Forms and that’s a PITA.

Is there something you can recommend that is easy to use and embeds nicely into Publii posts, like Gravity does for WP?

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

 

[eranm]

Example of embedded google form. It looks shitty (scroll bars, doesn’t match colours and fonts with the page its on, etc.)

[mgc8]

Good question, I’ve been investigating the same topic and would be curious of some “best practices” recommendations.

From experience, SurveyMonkey works in a pinch, although you’ll have similar issues with the integration (tip: to get rid of scrollbars, increase the height of whatever element you plug the script/iframe into; sometimes that will end up looking weird and too long though, so there’s no perfect solution).

I’ve been looking at some alternatives for this, each of them with Free tiers, but so far haven’t directly tested any of them:

• https://www.cognitoforms.com/
• https://surveyjs.io/pricing

Looking forward to hearing suggestions from other Publii users!

[publii-slpa]

I guess it all depends on what you are trying to achieve.

For myself, I use Mendix a web app builder. It allows me to process data how I please. I even created a customer portal.

It is free and fairly easy to use. It does take a small amount of a learning curve. Once you get it, the whole process becomes second nature.

Using Mendix allows you to create as many forms and databases you want. You can create several forms for a site and have them connected in a single database or use their own database. You can reuse forms across as many sites as you want.

It may be more complex than you need. It does, however, gives you the option to process the data how you want, create actions, access it with other apps, and access it with code such as JS or Java or even PERL. You can even report on your data and edit the data directly. For those who like to “roll their own”, this seems to be the best option out there.

Cheers!!

[eranm]

Hello @Publii-slpa

Thanks for your response.

Unfortunately, Mendix looks far too complex for my skill level. I am not a coder per se. I just know some basic html code and that’s it.

As for what I want to achieve…

Simply, I mostly need forms for lead capture purpose. I build client sites to mostly run paid ad traffic to for lead generation purposes (not ecom).

So I need to be able to build forms to capture certain data.

At the simplest, it would be a contact form asking for their name, email, phone & a text field where they can explain what they want.

In a more complicated situation, it might be a 3 stage form for a real estate agent asking for home address on stage one, property details (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc) on stage 2, and then the final stage would be contact info like name, email, mobile, etc.

Then those form submissions would need to be emailed to me & my client, and in some cases, also send a thankyou email to the lead letting them know we received their enquiry and we’ll be in touch.

GravityForms makes this super-simple to build but I am trying to get away from WP, so not ideal.

[eranm]

mgc8 wrote:

mgc8

Thanks for your recommendations. I have used survey monkey before, but don’t think it would suit my needs.

I’m not familiar with the other 2 you suggested but surveyjs doesn’t seem ideal. I’ll check out the other one.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

[eranm]

mgc8 wrote:

Good question, I’ve been investigating the same topic and would be curious of some “best practices” recommendations. From experience, SurveyMonkey works in a pinch, although you’ll have similar issues with the integration (tip: to get rid of scrollbars, increase the height of whatever element you plug the script/iframe into; sometimes that will end up looking weird and too long though, so there’s no perfect solution). I’ve been looking at some alternatives for this, each of them with Free tiers, but so far haven’t directly tested any of them: https://www.cognitoforms.com/ https://surveyjs.io/pricing Looking forward to hearing suggestions from other Publii users!

Hi again. I setup a free account with cognito forms and built a super-simple form, embedded it in my contact page, and it seems to work fine.

Early days yet – but it shows promise.

Note: To embed it in the page, I just switched to html edit mode and pasted the raw script code on the page

<script src="https://www.cognitoforms.com/f/seamless.js" data-key="NENddzKQIkkyuw" data-form="1"></script>

It seems to be fine. You can check it out here:

https://leadnurturing.email/contact.html

Note: Publii did seem to wrap the script in paragraph tags, if that makes any difference.

<p>To contact the site admin, fill in the form below and submit it.</p>
<p>You can normally expect to receive a reply in 1 business day.</p>
<p>
<script src="https://www.cognitoforms.com/f/seamless.js" data-key="NENddzKQIkkyuw" data-form="1"></script>
</p>

 

 

[eranm]

Note re incognito forms. It looks like you will have to upgrade to a paid plan to have the option of sending emails with form submit data to one or more people.

At the moment, it just sends me an email letting me know an entry has been made, but I have to click a link to see the entry on their website.

 

[shaun2k]

There was an active discussion regarding email/form on this thread previous:

https://forum.getpublii.com/topic/open-source-form-receiver-and-forwarder/

Perhaps it’s worth a look?

 

[eranm]

shaun2k wrote:

There was an active discussion regarding email/form on this thread previous: https://forum.getpublii.com/topic/open-source-form-receiver-and-forwarder/ Perhaps it’s worth a look?

Thanks Shaun. 🙂

One of those links mentioned Paperform which I have and love, so I will go test it and see how it works with publii.

That will save me $$$ if it does, and since I already know how to use it, it will make my life a lot easier.

[eranm]

Yep, Paperform works fine!

Thanks all. Problem solved for now. 🙂

[candidexmedia]

I’m a big fan of FormSubmit, but it only sends responses as emails.

 

Foror your use case, Airtable Forms, Typeform, or NocoDB forms might be worth looking at since they have CRM capabilities.

[JOduMonT]

I recently discovered https://tally.so

It’s a great alternativeto the expensive TypeForm

[Andy]

JOduMonT wrote:

I recently discovered https://tally.so

It’s a great alternativeto the expensive TypeForm

 

How do you manage to insert the <iframe> code in a post on Publii?

It works for me only if I put the code in the “custom html > after every post” section

thank you in advance

[candidexmedia]

 

Andy wrote:

How do you manage to insert the <iframe> code in a post on Publii?

It works for me only if I put the code in the “custom html > after every post” section

thank you in advance

In the WYSIWYG Editor: Use the Soure Code button and add it there.

In the Block Editor: there should be an HTML block.

[Andy]

 

Hey Candidex, Nice to see you back here
Yes that’s exactly what I usually do but unfortunately it doesn’t work with the tally code (iframe)

 

I don’t really understand why it wouldn’t work in a post but it works if I put this code in the “parameters” of the theme.

[GPax]

Hi Andy,

I used to have some problem trying to embed forms from cognito forms (the iframe embed option), they usually doesn’t work in preview mode, but once published they work. Maybe this is your case too?

[Gyges]

This seems to be a topic of quite some interest. Woudn’t it be worth a Plugin?

[candidexmedia]

Hey Andy!

I ran some tests on my end and I think I may have found a solution:

Make sure you add the JS script in the head (Tools & Plugins > Custom HTML > Head):

// Include the Tally widget script in the <head> section of your page
<script src="https://tally.so/widgets/embed.js"></script>

 

 

[Andy]

Hi Candidex,

Thanks for your feedback!

I tried putting the script in the Header but then the iframe in a post doesn’t display. What iframe code are you using to display this?

Thanks again,

[candidexmedia]

Hey Andy! Please disregard my earlier reply. I went back to my demo and realized I got a few things wrong. Here are the correct steps:

1. Copy the first “Embed code” found on the Share > Embed Form page:

2. Paste the iframe’s code in the HTML Block (for the Block Editor) or the HTML source code page (for the WYSIWYG Editor). Make sure to add the data-responsive=”false” attribute to the iframe. Often times, the iframes are there but hidden because of the way Publii handles their sizing (see Bob’s comment in another thread and the doc page)

From there, your form should appear.

 

Video demo: https://i.imgur.com/7gPfbv7.mp4

[Jai]

Thanks candidexmedia! I had the same question and was going crazy trying to make the Tally form work. Adding the data-responsive=”false” did the trick.

[Andy]

What the…

Such a simple solution after hours of research! 🤣

Thank you ! Merci ! Candidexmedia ! 🙏

So now, to answer the basic question of this topic 😅, for me Tally remains the best solution for integrating forms.
I also use Netlify Forms for contact forms with a free integrated Recaptcha.

[Author]

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