One of the most powerful ways to collect information from your visitors on a web page is to use a form. Visitors can fill out a form and then the resulting information is then available for your use. Forms are commonly used for registration purposes, creating help tickets, initiating contact and much more.
To create a simple form, the first thing you need is an email address. The email address will be placed within the HTML and it will designate where the information will be sent once it is collected and the visitor has submitted it. If you expect a lot of form submissions, it’s best not to use a personal email address. Rather, an email account created solely for the form is the best idea.
Then you need to decide on what you want to use to collect the information. The most popular options are TEXT, TEXT AREA, CHECKBOX and RADIO BUTTON. The TEXT option allows for one line of text to be inputted by the visitor, while the TEXT AREA allows for a box of text. The CHECKBOX option allows for users to select as many boxes as they wish, while the RADIO BUTTON forces the user to make one selection from a group.
Finally, you need a submit button and a reset button. The submit button, as the name suggests, submits the form and sends the information to the email address. On the other hand, the reset button allows the visitor to delete everything on the form and start over. Typically, these two buttons are located below the form.
Once you have created a form, it is very important to test it out. Fill out the form yourself and then submit it. If the information you submitted successfully is sent to the email account you have selected, you can be confident that you have a working form.