Creating Forms in the CMS

1. Creating Forms in the CMS There are 3 steps: Building your form - this session Embed the form into page and publish (part 2) Get results by email and/or spreadsheet (part 2)

3. All Icebreaker events are from 7pm – 9pm • Sheffield: Monday 6 September, Sheffield United Football Club • Birmingham: Tuesday 7 September, The Custard Factory • Derby: Wednesday 8 September, The Academy, University of Derby • Leicester: Thursday 9 September, Leicester Racecourse • First name • Surname • Phone • Email Which event do you want to come to? • Sheffield • Birmingham • Derby • Leicester How many people will be coming, including you? 1,2,3,4

4. Is creating a form in the CMS the best way to do this? • Other alternatives are: • LimeSurvey – can analyse results number of respondents etc. • Webshop – secure can take credit card payments • LIS can build advanced forms (ie over multiple pages with the ability to save before submitting) • Paper form/downloadable PDF/Word document if your audience isn’t online or web savvy or if they’re likely to print a form out and pass it on

5. Fields available

6. Text entry • Text field • Used for names, telephone numbers, email addresses • Multi-Text field • Where you require more information

7. Choices, choices…. • Radio buttons • Allows user to choose only one option • Drop-down menu (with or without ‘other option) • Allows user to choose only one option • With a dropdown list, people can’t see all the options that are available to them without clicking. • Checkbox list • Allows user to choose multiple options • Checkbox • Either ticked or unticked, use for “I agree to..”

8. Custom fields • Address field • Can find addresses from postcode • Can format addresses so that they can be imported into Peoplesoft • Date field • Formats dates correctly • Pop up calendar • Prevent people entering past dates • File upload • Users can send you photographs, Word documents etc • Use this rather than Image upload • Captcha • Not accessible (ie it doesn’t read the Captcha out) probably not a good idea to use

9. Formatting • Frames • Stops the form looking like it’s ‘floating’ on the page • Allows you to split form into sections eg ‘your details’, ‘booking’, ‘any questions’ • Text label • Explanatory text • Long titles

10. Before you start… • Create a dummy version of the form in Word or on paper so you know • what sort of fields you’ll need • how long the form is going to be • if you need to merge or delete any questions.

11. How to build a form in the CMS Assemble form Create new form or edit existing form Format each individual element

12. Hints and tips • Use your own experience of filling forms • what irritates you when you’re filling in a form? • does it look too long? • what do you expect a field to be called? • “Why are you asking me this?” • Do you need this information at this stage or indeed at all? • If a question is compulsory, they must be able to answer it (so you might need “don’t know” or “rather not say”) • I always include a comment bit so that they mention anything I’ve not thought to ask/any issues they have.