WiscWeb - Using the Gravity Forms Plugin
- Important information regarding use of Gravity Forms in WiscWeb
- Activating the Gravity Forms plugin
- Vendor documentation
- Embedding a form
- "From Email" field
- Accessibility barriers
Important information regarding use of Gravity Forms in WiscWeb
While the WiscWeb service does allow the use of Gravity Forms within its sites, there are three important pieces of information to be aware of when using the plugin.
- Sensitive and restricted data - Gravity Forms should not be used to prompt users for any data that could be considered sensitive and/or restricted as WiscWeb is not secured to host this information. For more information, please see WiscWeb - Sensitive, restricted, and internal data policy and the UW System Data Classification Policy.
- Accessibility - For accessibility information, please see the Gravity Forms vendor documentation.
- Payment processing - While the Gravity Forms plugin shows pricing field options, WiscWeb does not support the processing of payments in our multi-site environment. Registration and storefront options that require payment processing will need to be housed in a separate website and linked to from your WiscWeb project. More information on this process can be found in our Options for e-Commerce Transactions KB doc.
Activation and access
Please be aware that the Gravity Forms plugin can be activated by Administrators using the instructions in WiscWeb - Self service plugin activation / deactivation. Also know that only site administrators can have access to creating and editing forms within your site.
Vendor documentation
While the WiscWeb team is happy to assist with general guidance on how to use the Gravity Forms plugin as well as best practices, we cannot document everything the plugin does. Instead, we recommend using the documentation found on the vendor website.
Please be aware that with version 2.7, form templates were added to the plugin as an option when you create a new form for your site. While you are able to use these new templates as a starting point for your forms, the WiscWeb service does not support the ability to collect payment or donation information, or integrate with existing newsletter services such as MailChimp.
If you have any questions, please contact us at help@doit.wisc.edu.
Embedding a form on your site
Embedding a form within a page or post in your site is a two-step process that requires you copy the embed shortcode and then paste it into the appropriate location.
- Access your form and click on the Embed button in the upper right corner of the screen
- At the bottom of the popup window, click the Copy Shortcode button. This will place the necessary embed shortcode on your clipboard.
- Navigate to the page or post that you want to embed the form on, and in a text editor paste (Ctrl+V or Cmd+V) the shortcode you copied.
From Email requirements
The "From Email" field for all Gravity Forms in WiscWeb will need to be set to "noreply@email.wiscweb.wisc.edu". More information on this change can be found at WiscWeb - Required "From Email" settings for Gravity Forms.
Accessibility barriers
Gravity Forms version 2.5 introduced a host of new accessibility improvements that are now available to users of WiscWeb. These improvements may not be on by default so we suggest that users review this documentation to learn more about how to make their forms more accessible.
Please Note:The vendor advises that you test the new markup before disabling legacy markup.
Disabling legacy markup
This is a setting that you will have to toggle off in the Form Settings. These steps will have to be completed for each form on your site.
- Navigate to the Forms link in your dashboard (Note: this will only show up if you have Gravity Forms enabled on the site)
- Search for your form in the list
- Hover over the title and then choose Settings > Form Settings
- Scroll down to the bottom of the Form Settings page and locate the Form Options box
- Locate the toggle for Enable Legacy Markup and make sure that it is turned off
Tip: You'll know it is turned off it it shows in gray and has a white circle with an "x" in it off to the left side of the toggle
- Save your form
Additional accessibility considerations
In addition to toggling off the legacy markup view, there are a few other ways in which you can improve the accessibility of your Gravity Forms forms. Primarily, they involve using caution when adding certain fields or input types to your form. Certain fields and input types are known to be inaccessible and alternatives should be sought.
Gravity Forms will show a warning in the Field Settings if a field or input is inaccessible.
More information about these inaccessible fields (and what the accessibility warning looks like) can be found in Gravity Forms accessibility warning documentation.