WiscWeb - WordPress UW Theme - Using the Gravity Forms Plugin

Using the Gravity Forms plugin, a site administrator can create and use a web-based form to collect information from site visitors.

In this document:

Important information regarding use of Gravity Forms in WiscWeb
Activating the Gravity Forms plugin
Vendor documentation
Guidance for embedding forms in WiscWeb UW Theme sites
From Email field

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 - WordPress UW Theme - 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 - WordPress UW Theme - 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 more than happy to assist with general guidance on how to use the Gravity Forms plugin as well as best practices, it is difficulty to continue to update our own documentation regarding the plugin. 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 - WordPress UW Theme - Required "From Email" Settings for Gravity Forms.