Posts Tagged ‘web forms’

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Form & Input Fields Now Editable

The form builder now allows the modification of input fields and web form details. Click on the Form Field icon to edit a form or field.

Form Processor Upgrade: More Interactivity for Web Form Users and More

We’ll be upgrading at the end of the week some key components of FormSmarts. The changes will affect both form users and form owners.

More Interactivity for Web Form Users

  • form users can modify any invalid data they may have submitted in the same page, rather than having to press the back button
  • form users can modify submitted data even when form data is not cached by the browser, or if JavaScript is disabled
  • we’ve added features to improve the experience of visually-impaired users equipped with screenreaders

Changes in Email Notification of Form Results

  • new email subject format [Form #123] My Form Name #456
  • the first part [Form #123] is fixed so that you can use it to create a filter within your mail client
  • emails now include a unique transaction ID, e.g. #456 that can be used, for example, as an order number for order forms (form users are shown the transaction ID on the confirmation page)
  • whenever your form contains an email field, you can now reply to sender hitting the reply button in your email client
  • because of the previous point, we no longer show your pass-phrase in every email

Tips for Web Form Users with Non-English Language Websites

Many users in non-English speaking countries now use FormSmarts, so we thought we would post a few recommendations for them.

When building your forms with the form creator, use the text data type for any fields that may contain non-English characters, such as the accented characters found in many European languages (All data types now support all languages/character sets).
Note that non-European languages like Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese and Russian are not supported at this time.

As you know, FormSmarts form handler is not a simple form to email processor script like FormMail. Each and every web form submission is analyzed in real time, and the user may be asked to complete a challenge if we suspect a form spam attempt. Although anyone capable of reading elementary English should be able to understand what is expected from him/her in that context, this is something you may have to take into account when designing your web forms. You could for example warn users in the form filling instructions.

If you need help, we provide limited support in French, German, and Chinese (as well as English, of course.) You can write us in any of those languages, but we will only reply in English.

Displaying Your Own Logo on Your Forms

FormSmarts users can now display their own logo in the top left corner of their forms.

Note that because each logo must be reviewed manually, we ask you to spend a few minutes to help us publicize FormSmarts before we take some of our time to validate your logo. Alternatively, you may get your logo validated for a small fee of US$ 5 per logo submitted. You may help us by:

  • writing reviews about us on relevant sites and blogs (e.g. Scripts.com, HotScripts)
  • posting a video on YouTube showing how to use FormSmarts (gets you free validation of all of your logos)

Once done, ask us to validate your logo.

Will FormSmarts Remain Free?

A few people asked if FormSmarts will remain free. Although we may some day offer FormSmarts as commercial service with SLA and additional features, the basic service will remain free.

Note that we will need to charge a one-off fee for some services. For example, we will soon allow users to upload a custom website logo to appear on their web forms. Each image will require human validation, so we’ll need to charge a small fee for this. We will however lift the fee for users who have referred friends/site visitors to FormSmarts, wrote reviews about us on relevant sites, posted a video about using FormSmarts on Youtube, etc.

Show a Form Owner Name on Your Forms

Increase user confidence by letting us verify you own the websites you are using with FormSmarts. FormSmarts will then display a verified form owner name in the top-right corner of all your forms.

To verify your sites, sign in to FormSmarts, and choose the Verified Websites option in the Settings tab. The form owner name can currently only be a verified web hostname. We will soon also support verified personal or company names. More details here.

Are Forms Protected by a CAPTCHA?

CAPTCHA challenge image We often get questions asking whether FormSmarts web forms are protected against automated submissions by a CAPTCHA. A CAPTCHA is a challenge-response test used to determine whether the user is human.

Yes, we do use CAPTCHA tests, but not every time a form is submitted. Instead, the form handler decides each time whether or not to require a CAPTCHA test (and other verifications), based on unobtrusive analysis by our form spam blocker of the information submitted.

This saves time to every one, and reduces form abandonment.

Asking the user to complete a CAPTCHA test for every form submission affects form usability and accessibility.

New FormSmarts Features to Come in 2008

Here are some of the major features we’ll be adding to FormSmarts
during 2008.

Verified Form Owner

Web form users are often concerned about what the form results recipient is going to do with their personal information. As a first step in a series of efforts to help increase user confidence and trust, we’ll introduce a Verified Form Owner scheme.

When the feature becomes available, you’ll have the option to verify your domain name, personal name, or company name. That name will then be used as the form owner name, and will appear in a prominent place at the top of each form. Indications that the form owner has been verified will also be shown.

At the most basic level, verifying your domain name will only take a few minutes.

Customizable Form Appearance

We’ll be offering the ability to change the FormSmarts logo on your forms by your own logo.

More Field Types Supported

We’ll add support form more HTML form field types, like drop down menus (HTML select tag), in the first quarter of 2008.

Want More?

Send a feature request.

Form Builder and Form Spam Filter Updated

A major FormSmarts upgrade was rolled out today. Changes include:

Choosing a Good Web Form Title

Most visitors will notice that they are submitting a form not from your website, but from FormSmarts.com. For users to be confident they are sending information to the right person, include your name or website name in the form title.

For example, “Contact Edgar Poe” is a more informative and useful title than “Contact Form”.

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About the Form Builder Blog

The Online Form Builder Blog is published by FormSmarts, a web form service providing all you need to create a form and publish it online in minutes. FormSmarts makes it easy to build a form and embed it on your site. You can then get form submissions by email or store them on FormSmarts and download an Excel report. Learn more about the many other benefits of FormSmarts.