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February 10, 2012
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Forms 2.0 - Better forms without code

  • February 10, 2012
  • 126 replies
  • 35384 views
[Please add your comments below to help build a strong case]

Since the FORMS 2.0 idea from Glen Lipka has long been lost, it's time to bring it back and get it on the agenda.  It only been raised as an issue for 3 years and more than 2 versions of this community.  Even one of recent ideas from the community for the Amazing Race Idea was for form improvements: Form Widgets!.

Basically Forms need to be come way easier without manipulation through code.  There are a lot of small improvements that could be made to the form functionality that would be a great benefit to clients without access to a web developer skill set.  

At one time or another, I have had marketers request most of the following list of form improvements:

  • support for HTML5 form elements
  • allow pre-population on a field by field basis as a form designer attribute
  • allow text fields to optionally concatenate the new value with the existing data
  • field masking for phone, sin number etc.
  • add real-time (onblur) validation, validation test conditions and  contextual error msgs
    • email regex,
    • min and max for numbers etc. 
    • phone with or without extention
    • domain name for spam exclusion - i.e. mickmouse@example.com a@a.com
    • alpha-only for names/text fields
    • Automatic formating for proper case including whitespace trimming
  • better positioning of the field label and error msg
  • more form layouts in terms of 2-3 columns layouts as well as fields that can span the columns
  • more control over the submit button:
    • its style/image
    • dynamic button text both before and after click text to make the form reusable on more that one landing page within the landing page editor
    • enable/disable submit based upon required fields/validation
  • provide more advanced type of controls:
    • date pickers,
    • sliders (range),
    • dropdowns (combobox) with icons, option groups etc.
    • better support for checkboxes/radio with multi-select 
  • dependant selections or skip logic i.e. country/state and surveys
  • geo-ip support for country/state
  • automatic detection and support for iframes to get parent parameters, adjust the form's target = _top etc.
  • better (dynamic) follow up options - new windows, dynamic redirect based upon other form fields, parameters or cookies
  • Allow fields from SFDC objects other than contact and lead

Forms have been one of the least attended to areas of Marketo; it has literally been years since any significant improvements have been made while the competition has not been standing still waiting.

Below is a small list for just from this version of community:

126 replies

New Participant
December 13, 2013
Soooo sad to see it didn't make the cut for the December release.....Can't wait to see this feature. I'm working on a form and spent 4hrs+ on a form that should take no more than 30 min to build with the right tools. Please, please, make this a top priority!!!
November 5, 2013
I am spending a lot of time trying to format forms right now - do you have idea when the next release will be (approx date) and if it deffinelty will include this?!  I don't want to waist anymore time trying to format our forms if it will be a whole lot easier in the next few weeks. 
Edward_Masson
New Participant
November 1, 2013
Great stuff!
Hopefully we can get a sneak peak on the Champions call next week...?
November 1, 2013
Hear through the grapevine that Forms 2.0 is moving into the delivery stage... hoping for the post-dreamforce release to still make it this year.


Cheers,
Eric
September 12, 2013
@Eric and @Edward

Here's the finished product - http://fatstax.com/contact-us/

send me an email at rusty@fatstax.com and I'll forward you the instructions.  Cant attach the file to this thread...

Special thanks @Neil and @Rafael Santoni in this thread for advice on the js to get it all looking correct and required fields thing activated. The submit button was kind of a bear too.
 
Rafael_Santoni1
New Participant
September 12, 2013
That would be pretty sweet too! However, keep in mind that that particular combo opens the "history". At least in my Mac/Chrome.

:-)
September 12, 2013
@Rafael: We don't have that feature planned.  But what about a keyboard shortcut.  Like you click on the field and then ALT-H (for example) and it makes it hidden.  At least you could do it quick that way.  Would that suffice?
September 12, 2013
@Rus @Edward Simply from a curiousity perspecitve, I wouldn't mind a peak too.  

Cheers,
Eric
Edward_Masson
New Participant
September 12, 2013
@Rusty,
Happy to share the code and instructions with any one in the community.


Hi Rus, would very much like to see what you have done. Can you please share?
Rafael_Santoni1
New Participant
September 12, 2013
Glen,

Do you know if we will have the ability to set what is the default type of fields when we are adding them to forms? I am creating a bunch of forms, each with a bunch of hidden fields to leverage a data augmentation service (over 30 in total per form), and it is a royal pain to change them all from their default type, which is "text" to "hidden. I have to do each one by one.

If not set up a default type for dropping them on the forms, at least it would be nice to select them all, and change the set to a different type on a single punch.

Makes sense? Sounds good? Please, pretty please.