How to Create a Form in WordPress Without a Plugin

Creating a form in WordPress can seem daunting, especially if you’re unfamiliar with coding or don’t want to use a plugin. However, it’s quite simple to create a form without a plugin, and it can be a great way to customize your website and collect information from your visitors.

First, you’ll need to access the WordPress dashboard and navigate to the “Pages” section. From there, you can create a new page and use the “Add Form” button to create a new form. You can customize the form fields, add validation rules, and even set up email notifications when someone submits the form.

If you’re comfortable with HTML and CSS, you can also create a custom form template that matches your website’s design. This will give you even more control over the form’s appearance and functionality. With a little bit of effort, you can create a professional-looking form that meets all of your needs without relying on a plugin.

Reasons for Wanting to Create a Form Without a Plugin

As a WordPress user, you might be wondering why you should create a form without a plugin. Well, there are several reasons why you might want to do this.

Firstly, creating a simple contact form without a plugin is much easier than you might think. You don’t need any technical knowledge or coding skills to create a basic form. All you need to do is use the built-in WordPress functions to create a form that suits your needs.

Secondly, creating a custom form without a plugin gives you more control over the design and functionality of the form. You can customize the form to match your website design and add any specific features you need. This is especially useful if you have a unique requirement that an off-the-shelf plugin cannot meet.

Thirdly, creating a custom WordPress form without a plugin can help improve your website’s performance. Plugins can slow down your website, especially if you have many of them installed. By creating a custom form, you can reduce the number of plugins you need, which can help speed up your website.

Creating a form without a plugin is a great way to improve your website’s design and functionality without relying on third-party plugins. With some knowledge and creativity, you can create a custom form that meets your specific needs.

Preparations Before Creating a Form

Before creating a form in WordPress without a plugin, there are a few things you need to prepare. First, make sure you have a free account on WordPress.com or a self-hosted WordPress site. This is necessary to access the WordPress dashboard where you will create the form.

Next, create a new file where you will write the code for the form. You can use any text editor, such as Notepad or Sublime Text, to create this file. Make sure to save the file with a .php extension.

The first step in creating a form is to define the form fields. These are the input fields that users will fill out, such as name, email, and message. You can use HTML code to create these fields.

To make your form secure, you should also add some validation to the form fields. This will ensure that users enter valid data into the form. You can use PHP code to validate the form fields.

Once you have defined the form fields and added validation, you can add some styling to your form using CSS. This will make your form look more professional and user-friendly.

Overall, creating a form in WordPress without a plugin is not difficult, but it does require some basic knowledge of HTML, PHP, and CSS. With the right preparations and some coding skills, you can create a custom form that meets your specific needs.

Steps for Adding the Form Using Code

II don’t use HTML or CSS for coding. Instead, I use blocks and plugins to make WordPress sites. I typically use available blocks and plugins to build WordPress websites. I find using plugins and blocks to be more secure and less prone to issues. Instead of coding forms manually, I rely on plugins because they offer both simplicity and enhanced security. I’ll explain how to add a form without extra plugins later in the post.

The purpose of the article is to answer the question of how to create a form in WordPress without a plugin. Now, I am going to give you the steps and the code.

Creating the Form Using HTML:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Navigate to Pages > Add New or Posts > Add New, depending on where you want the form.
3. Switch to the Text (or Code) editor instead of the Visual editor.
4. Paste the following code for a simple contact form:

Here is the output from the above code:

Doesn’t look great so let’s add additional code to make the form look slightly better. We will style the form using CSS. You can add custom styles to your form by including tags before the form and pasting CSS inside:

Here is the output from the above CSS when combined with the form code:

The above form will not work yet because we haven’t told it what to do once someone selects “Submit”. For a contact form, you’d typically want to send an email. This requires a server-side script like PHP. Adding the PHP isn’t too difficult, but it doesn’t include validation, sanitization, or anti-spam measures, which are crucial for a production website. Plugins usually handle these complexities, so they’re popular for adding forms to WordPress. This is why I highly recommend the use of a plugin. When you add a plugin, you can easily add additional tasks to further improve your website’s functionality.

Understanding WordPress and Its Forms

As a WordPress user, you have the ability to create custom forms without the need for a plugin. WordPress is a powerful platform that allows users to create websites with ease. One of the key features of WordPress is its ability to create forms, which can be used for various purposes, such as contact forms, surveys, and more.

To easily create a form in WordPress, you must access the WordPress dashboard. The dashboard is the central hub of your WordPress site, where you can manage your content, settings, and more. Once in the dashboard, you can create a new page or edit an existing one.

WordPress pages are the primary way to create content on your website. They are similar to posts, but they are not time-sensitive or displayed in chronological order. To create a new page, click “Pages” in the WordPress dashboard and click “Add New”.

Once you have created a new page, you can add content. To add a form, you must use a plugin like Contact Form 7 or WPForms. These plugins allow you to create custom forms with ease, and they provide a variety of customization options.

WordPress plugins are third-party software applications that can be installed on your WordPress site to extend its functionality. There are thousands of plugins available for WordPress, which can be used for various purposes, such as SEO, security, e-commerce, and more.

In conclusion, WordPress is a powerful platform that allows users to create custom forms without needing a plugin. Using the WordPress dashboard and a plugin, you can easily create custom forms and customize them to fit your needs.

Using Kadence Blocks for Form Creation

Kadence Blocks is a free WordPress plugin that provides a wide range of blocks to help you create beautiful pages and posts. One of the blocks it offers is the form builder block. With this block, you can create forms in WordPress without using any other plugin.

To use the Kadence Blocks form builder, you need to install the Kadence Blocks plugin first. Once you have installed the plugin, you can start creating forms by following these simple steps:

1. Create a new page or post in WordPress.
2. Add a new block by clicking on the plus icon.
3. Search for the Kadence Blocks form block and add it to your page or post.
4. Configure the form settings, such as the form title, fields, and submission message.
5. Save your changes and publish the page or post.

Features

• Built-in Google ReCaptcha support
• Support for text, textarea, email, accept and select fields
• Style submit, inputs, labels
• Adjust the column width for each field
• Add unlimited fields
• Redirect after submit
• Pro: Auto-response emails
• Pro: Log each entry in the database.
• Pro: Subscribe entry to SendinBlue
• Pro: Subscribe entry to MailChimp
• Pro: Subscribe entry to ActiveCampaign

The Kadence Blocks form builder provides various field types, including text, email, phone numbers, and more. You can customize the form fields by adding placeholders, labels, and default values. Additionally, you can set up validation rules to ensure that users enter the correct information. There are many options for what should happen to the data after the user selects submit including services such as Mailchimp and Mailerlite. This is a very powerful tool offered by Kadence in the free version of the block plugin. They also offer a pro version at an additional cost that includes many features in addition to a more advanced version of the form builder.

Overall, the Kadence Blocks form builder is an excellent option for creating forms in WordPress without using any other plugin. It’s easy to use and provides various customization options to help you create forms matching your website’s design.

Creating a Simple Contact Form

Creating a contact form in WordPress is a simple process when using Kadence Blocks. In this section, I will guide you through creating a simple contact form.

First, navigate to the “Contact” page in the WordPress dashboard and click “Add New.” Once on the page you can select to add the Form block in the left navigation by selecting the little blue button with a “+” (Toggle block inserter). This will open up the text editor where you can create your new form.

Next, you will need to add the form data. This includes the form fields, input type, and submit button. To add a form field, click the “Add Field” button and select the type of field you want to add. There are many different fields to choose from, including text, email, and dropdown fields.

Once you have added all the necessary form fields, you can customize the form by adjusting the settings for each field. For example, you can change the label for each field, set a default value, or make a field required.

That’s it! You have now created a simple contact form in WordPress.

Adding a User Registration Form

Creating a user registration form in WordPress is a straightforward process that doesn’t require any plugins. With just a few simple steps, you can create a functional form that allows users to register on your website.

To get started, go to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the “Users” section. From there, select “Add New” to create a new user. You’ll be prompted to enter the user’s details, including their email address, username, and password.

Next, you must add the form fields to your registration form. You can do this in the form general settings by selecting the “Add Field” Button.

Once you’ve added all of the necessary form fields, you’ll need to include a submit action of “Database” so that users can submit their registration details and you have access to the data. This can be done by adding the details using the “Actions After Submit” under the field settings.

Finally, it’s important to include an email address where users can contact you if they have any questions or issues with their registration. This can be added to your form as a text field or as a separate contact form on your website.

Following these simple steps, you can create a user registration form WordPress without additional plugins. With some customization, you can create a form that perfectly suits your website’s needs and helps you grow your user base.

Managing Form Submissions

Once you have created your form, you will receive submissions from your site visitors. Managing form submissions is an important task, as it allows you to keep track of the data that is being collected and take appropriate actions based on that data.

To manage form submissions in WordPress the Kadence plugin, you can follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the “Kadence Blocks” section in your WordPress dashboard.
2. Click on the “Form Entries”.
3. Here, you will see a list of all the submissions that have been received for each form you have created. You can view the details of each submission by clicking on the “View” button next to it.
4. You can also export the submission data in a CSV format by clicking on the “Export CSV” button.

Managing form submissions is not just about viewing and exporting data. You should also take appropriate actions based on the data that you receive. For example, if you are collecting email addresses through your form, you can use this data to build your email list and send newsletters or promotional emails to your subscribers.

It is important to handle form submissions with care and ensure that the data is stored securely. You should also ensure that you have the necessary permissions to collect and use the data submitted through your form.

Advanced Form Creation: Multi-Step Form

Creating a multi-step form in WordPress is a great way to make your form more user-friendly and organized. In this section, I will explain how you can create a multi-step form using only the built-in WordPress functionality.

To create a multi-step form, you will need to break your form into multiple sections or pages. Each section will contain a subset of fields that the user needs to fill out. To move from one section to the next, you will need to add a “Next” button to the form.

To create a multi-step form, follow these steps:

1. Create a new page in WordPress and add the first section of your form.
2. Add a “Next” button to the form using the HTML code <input type="submit" value="Next">.
3. Create a new page in WordPress and add the second section of your form.
4. Add a “Previous” button to the form using the HTML code <input type="submit" value="Previous"> to allow users to go back to the previous section if needed.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all sections of the form are completed.
6. Add a “Submit” button to the final section of the form using the HTML code <input type="submit" value="Submit">.

It is important to note that when creating a multi-step form, you will need to store the data from each section of the form as the user progresses through the form. You can do this by using the $_SESSION variable in PHP.

By breaking your form into multiple sections and adding “Next” and “Previous” buttons, you can create a seamless user experience. Remember to store the form data using $_SESSION as the user progresses through the form.

Conclusion

In this article, I have shared with you how to create a form in WordPress without using a plugin. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can create a custom form that meets your specific needs.

Creating a form in WordPress without a plugin may seem daunting at first, but it is actually quite simple. By using the built-in features of WordPress and a little bit of HTML and CSS, you can create a professional-looking form in no time.

Remember, when creating a form, it is important to keep the user experience in mind. Make sure your form is easy to use and understand, and only ask for information that is necessary. Also, be sure to test your form thoroughly before publishing it on your website.

In conclusion, creating a form in WordPress without a plugin is a great way to customize your website and improve the user experience. With a little bit of effort, you can create a form that meets your specific needs and helps you achieve your goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I create a form in WordPress without using a plugin?

Creating a form in WordPress without using a plugin requires some knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP. You can create a form by adding HTML code to a WordPress page or post and then styling it with CSS. You can also use PHP to process the form data and store it in a database.

What is the simplest way to create a form in WordPress?

The simplest way to create a form in WordPress is to use the built-in Contact Form 7 plugin. It allows you to create and manage multiple contact forms, and you can customize the form fields and email messages.

Is it possible to create a custom PHP form in WordPress?

Yes, it is possible to create a custom PHP form in WordPress. You can create a PHP file in your WordPress theme folder and add the form code to it. You can then use the WordPress function wp_mail() to send the form data to your email address.

How do I create a contact form in WordPress without using a plugin?

You can create a contact form in WordPress without using a plugin by adding HTML code to a WordPress page or post and then styling it with CSS. You can also use PHP to process the form data and send it to your email address.

What are some alternatives to using a contact form plugin in WordPress?

Some alternatives to using a contact form plugin in WordPress include using a third-party form builder like Google Forms or Wufoo, or creating a custom form using HTML, CSS, and PHP.

Can I create a custom form in the WordPress admin panel without using a plugin?

No, you cannot create a custom form in the WordPress admin panel without using a plugin. The WordPress admin panel does not have a built-in form builder, so you will need to use a plugin or create a custom form using HTML, CSS, and PHP.