Gravity Forms – Great looking and superbly functioning web forms for WordPress

As might know, these past months I have been doing a little planning and restructuring of how I present myself online, here on my blog as well as out there in social la-la land.  One of the key aspects of my site that I’ve wanted to improve for a long time is the ability to collect information from my visitors and to create a more “website” feel to my site. 

The one thing that is missing from all blogs is an easy and convenient way to create forms, really good forms that do more than simply allow someone to contact you.  The default on most blog systems is a simple contact form that allows visitors to reach out to the site owner, and that might be the only form most bloggers will ever need.  But what if you needed a something a bit more than the contact form provides? Perhaps you need a form for a completely different purpose?  What would you do?

If you’re running WordPress, you’d probably do a search in the plugins manager for something specific to your needs, or settle on something that does just about what you need it to do. 

That’s all well and good, however since I’ve been using Gravity Forms I’ve determined that their software is quite remarkable, and the best that I’ve found so far.  The entire Gravity Forms package is truly a wonderful thing, and it’s saved me countless hours of development time if I were to try to create a form for every need that I’ve identified for myself personally.

“But wait a second, you’re a programmer, you can do this stuff in your sleep!”

Yes, I’m a programmer.  But, every good programmer knows that it’s sometimes better to utilize tools that exist and already perform well rather than recreate the wheel.  Why would I bother creating forms the long way when I can get even better results in a shorter amount of time using a package that focuses exclusively on building forms, and doing them right?  I don’t like to waste my time, nor my clients’ time, and you shouldn’t either.

Here’s how I’ve been using Gravity Forms for myself.  Perhaps this will give you some ideas of your own for your own site.

First off, Gravity Forms isn’t free.  I want to make that clear from the get-go.  You have to pay for it, and yes I’m an affiliate for their product also.  I believe in it and use it myself and consider it the best thing since sliced bread as far as form-builders go.  I also support my clients who use Gravity Forms, and Gravity Forms themselves provide excellent support as well.  So I don’t feel that “I’m on my own” feeling that you can get with many of the WordPress plugins floating around out there. Instead, I feel like they have my back in case I ever need their assistance.

Building a form is really easy

The best thing about Gravity Forms is the ease of use.  What used to be rather labor intensive for developers has been wrapped with functionality that makes it incredibly easy for anyone smarter than a caveman to create great looking forms.

In 7 steps you can have a new form on your site and ready for your visitors to use. All you would need to do is:

1. Create a new form
2. Configure your form
3. Add fields to your form
4. Configure your fields
5. Save your form
6. Add your form to a post or page
7. Test and publish the post/page with the form

Gravity Forms also has fields for just about every scenario you can think of too. Here are screenshots of the fields available that you to use within Gravity Forms.

The fields have settings that are both common across all fields, as well as specialized settings that allow you to control each fields unique properties. For instance, if you wanted an upload control on your form to allow visitors to upload files to you, you can simply click the File Upload button in the Advanced Fields section to add it to your form. Once it’s added, you can then proceed to configure it. Here’s what that looks like for the File Upload control.

Gravity Forms File Upload Configuration

The bluish area at the top is a preview of the area the File Upload control will take up. Immediately below that is where you would configure it. You can see the specialized settings this particular control provides. If you only wanted to allow GIF’s to be uploaded, you can do that easily by adding “gif” into the appropriate field.

The other controls are no different, although some have more configuration options to them as you might imagine. For instance, if you want to add a dropdown control to your form, you’ll have to supply all the data that goes into the dropdown.

But you know what, Gravity Forms even makes that easy too. When you add a dropdown control to your form and edit its properties, the guys at Gravity Forms knew that many people would like some common data to go along with the configuration, so it’s really easy to add commonly used data elements to your forms. Check this out:

Gravity Forms Bulk Add/Predefined Choices List

The thought put behind this product is amazing. I wouldn’t spend the time telling you about this unless I felt it were an excellent addition to your arsenal of tools. I could go on and on about all the options and functionality, but you can also learn more about them over at Gravity Forms as well.

Well, all of that said, I mentioned that I’ve used it for a number of forms here on WayneJohn.com. You might have noticed some of them, and others you might never see unless you work with me on a project. Here are a few of the ways that I’m using Gravity Forms for myself.

Contact form replacement

My first trial using Gravity Forms was to replace the standard contact form for WordPress.  There’s nothing wrong with the standard form, but I wanted the ability to modify it easily should I want or need to, plus it was a great way to cut my teeth with Gravity Forms.   I had my replacement contact form live in about 5 minutes.  Being the first time using Gravity Forms, it did take me a few extra minutes to learn their interface.  Being only 5 minutes should indicate exactly how easy it was for me to do this.

Custom Payment Page tied to PayPal

Using the Gravity Forms PayPal add-on, I was able to create a custom payment page for my clients to use, or anyone else that wants or needs to send me some money.  The wonderful thing about this is the branding aspect.  I don’t need to send users to PayPal anymore; I can send them back to my site when it comes time for payment.  I’ve updated my invoices to state that payment can be made here, and overall I think this provides a more well-rounded experience for my clients.  I also think it adds to the proof that I am all that I say I am when it comes to web development and being serious about business.

If you’d like to give this particular form a try, I’m not going to mind. Just use a dollar; you won’t miss that will ya?

Automating my advertising services

The most recent form I’ve created allows those interested in placing a link in my Paid Advertisers section to do so on their own.  No longer do people need to contact me and create a back and forth with me to seal an advertising deal.  They simply fill out the form, I get notified and I place the link into the list.

This particular form collects all the information I need for the advertising relationship, and is also configured to process an initial payment at PayPal for 6 months, and then establish a month to month payment thereafter.  That in itself is awesome functionality if you ask me.

Specialized project request form

When eBay announced that they would be making changes that will impact every single affiliate they have who uses RSS, I being one of them, I saw an opportunity to help others make the transition smoothly.  I created a form that collected all the information I would require and have since performed work for 8 new clients as a direct result of the blog post and form combination.

Collect testimonials

After I perform and complete a project for a client, I’d like to know how I did.  Maybe there was something that the client saw that I could do differently or improve upon.  Getting feedback like this is invaluable for me as it helps to make me a better developer and deliver a better overall service to my clients.  My testimonial form does that for me, and so far I am in love with having the feedback coming in from my clients.  It’s the one thing that I now realize has been missing.

Not anymore.

Even more coming in the near future

As I continue to evolve my site into the grand vision that I have for it, you’ll see some more of these forms coming out.  The power and flexibility that Gravity Forms provides has me thinking about my site in a completely different way than I was before.  Soon, my site won’t just be a blog, it will be much more.  Gravity Forms is helping me achieve that.

I’m still keeping my end goal under wraps, but if you take a look at some of the add-ons that are available for Gravity Forms, you might get an idea of where I’m heading.

Currently available Gravity Forms add-ons

• Campaign Monitor – Integration with email marketing software
• MailChimp - Another option for email marketers
• Paypal - Process orders in a variety of ways
• Freshbooks - Seamless integration with Freshbooks online accounting software
• User Registration – Establish a user registration process on your blog
• Twilio - Receive text message alerts when a form is submitted

I’m sure there are more add-ons coming.  These add-ons are what really sold me in the beginning, they have a way to provide additional functionality to their customers, and to me that’s another great point about Gravity Forms.  The PayPal add-on is what actually sold me initially, and I do plan on using some of the other add-ons as well in the near future.

I’m only scratching the surface of the possibilities with Gravity Forms, and no, I’m not saying that to try to sell you anything.  It’s the truth.  There’s a ton more I could be doing with Gravity Forms but I’m not…yet.

All good things in due time.

What’s missing in Gravity Forms?

You can hunt and try to find that perfect plugin, but normally you’ll find that there is always something missing that you wish was there.  Gravity Forms, while being as robust as it is, still lacks a few features that I could use right now.

For instance, there is no way to take data that is collected and configure specific elements for display on your site.  Imagine my testimonial form, after a client submits it, I’d like to have the testimonial part automatically display on my site somewhere.  Gravity Forms cannot do this just yet, but I have requested this as a future enhancement on their forums.  We’ll see what happens.

Considering purchasing Gravity Forms?

I’ll sweeten the deal for you.  If you use my affiliate link to purchase Gravity Forms, as a way of saying thank you I’ll spend 30 minutes of my time with you on Skype showing you the ropes and helping you build your first form if you would like me to.  If you’d like to spend that 30 minutes in another way, just let me know.  I want you to know that I back this product 100%.  I use it myself, and I’d use it for my grandmother’s site…if she wanted one.

This is one product that I really believe in, and as a professional web developer myself, I think it really should be a standard part of WordPress to be honest.  It isn’t now, nor do I think it ever will be, but it is the best darn web form builder I’ve found for WordPress.

Wayne  (531 Posts)

Wayne John is a health coach for people that want to lose weight, gain weight, improve athletic performance, or simply maintain a healthy lifestyle. Wayne has lost over 55 pounds and improves his current health every day by using simple, straight-forward techniques that anyone can integrate into their lives to achieve the same. Contact Wayne today to realize your own health and fitness goals, or get started now by completing and submitting the free Wellness Profile. He also has been developing websites since 1995 and programming solutions for clients even longer. He'd rather be outside having fun in the sun though.