Forms

[AnthonyJ]

Hi All,

 

1.How do you make fields required in a form?

2.What choices are there for visitors to a site, that do not have either Outlook or the Mac equivalent(using some free email provider)?

Edited August 12, 2011 by AnthonyJ

[AnthonyJ]

Hi,

 

As I create the form I am using I have a radio button and it is not reporting on my email. Is there a special tag that I should use?

Take a look:

http://www.usaglobaltradingllc.com/quote-request/

Edited August 12, 2011 by AnthonyJ

[falkencreative]

I'm getting a "website coming soon!" page, nothing with a radio button...?

[Andrea]

If by 'form' you mean your 'Contact Us' link, you're using the wrong term. The code you're using

<a href="[email="anthony@arjcommunications.com"]mailto:anthony@arjcommunications.com[/email]"

will open whatever default email program the user has installed to let them send you an email. Actual forms require more than just HTM - usually PHP. But you don't have to know PHP to use forms. There are plenty free form generators out there. I've used www.tectite.com before, they have all kinds of features. Alternatively, often hosting plans have options available as well.

[AnthonyJ]

I disabled the coming soon plugin. The form I trying to produce is the request a quote page. I also want to change the footer but am having difficulty...Here is the theme editor page:http://www.usaglobaltradingllc.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php

 

And here is the footer page:http://www.usaglobaltradingllc.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php?file=%2Fthemes%2Fadventure-journal%2Ffooter.php&theme=Adventure+Journal&dir=theme

 

What do I need to learn?

[AnthonyJ]

Ben,

 

Sorry I did not see that you have "Form Validation" videos. I am sure that will answer my original questions. But it also created some new ones...Go figure right?

Anyway, here is my principle question, why?

What does php do that can't be done with html? In the first video you have four files to manage the form. In wordpress, where would I put them?

[Andrea]

In Wordpress ----- use a plug in. I like Fast Secure Contact Form

[AnthonyJ]

And the theory about why php vs html?

[falkencreative]

HTML simply controls the content on the page. CSS controls how the content is styled. And something like PHP (or ASP.Net, or similar languages) adds interactivity since you have conditionals (if statements), loops, variables, etc. Wordpress couldn't be done without PHP or a similar server side language, since PHP is used for logging users in, controlling what pages display, handling forms, etc.

 

If you are using Wordpress, there is little point in developing a contact form from scratch. Just one one of the many form plugins available for Wordpress.

[AnthonyJ]

ok, what about changing the footer?

[Andrea]

That link you provided for the footer doesn't help here - I'd need your login info to actually get to it. However, if you log in and go to 'Edit Themes' you should see the footer file listed under Templates on the right side of the screen - click and make your changes.

[AnthonyJ]

I would like you to take a look at this...Last time I went poking around in the footer.php file I crashed my site and it took me eight hours to fix it. So when I see .PHP I tread lightly

[Andrea]

What is it you want to change in the footer?

[AnthonyJ]

I want to get rid of that adventure journal business and say "Site by ARJ Communications and Technologies"...And then tell me how you did it.

Edited August 14, 2011 by AnthonyJ

[Andrea]

Darn - this thing gave me the runaround. My first guess what that the change you wanted was to be found in the footer - but, all there was was this:

<?php
/**
* @package WordPress
* @subpackage Adventure_Journal
*/
?>
	<!-- begin footer -->
   	<div class="clear"></div>
       	<div id="footer">
         	<div class="nav-horz nav-footer"><?php  wp_nav_menu( array( 'theme_location' => 'footer-menu' ) ); ?></div>
           	<?php wp_footer(); ?>
         	<div class="clear"></div> 
       	</div>
     	</div>
   	</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Nothing in there showed me the part you wanted to change. Next, I viewed the source code of your site, and somewhere in the footer division, I found

<div id="attrition"><a href="[url="view-source:http://www.contextureintl.com/wordpress/adventure-journal-wordpress-theme/"]http://www.contextureintl.com/wordpress/adventure-journal-wordpress-theme/[/url]" title="Adventure Journal Wordpress Theme">
Adventure Journal Theme</a> is Proudly Designed By 
<a href="[url="view-source:http://www.contextureintl.com/"]http://www.contextureintl.com[/url]" id="contexture" title="Contexture International">Contexture International</a></div>

This showed me that I need to find the div id 'attrition' - so under 'Appearance' and 'Editor', I looked through all the files on the right, until I finally found this pesky 'attrition' thing inside theme functions. Here:

<div id="attrition"><a href="http://www.contextureintl.com/wordpress/adventure-journal-wordpress-theme/" title="Adventure Journal Wordpress Theme">Adventure Journal Theme</a> is Proudly Designed By <a href="http://www.contextureintl.com" id="contexture" title="Contexture International">Contexture International</a></div>

And I changed it to:

	<div id="attrition">
Site by ARJ Communications and Technologies
</div>

 

You may have to work on the style, but there you go.

[AnthonyJ]

You are a peach!

Edited August 14, 2011 by AnthonyJ