WordPress Plugin: Contact Coldform
![[ Image: Coldform Icon ]](https://perishablepress.com/wp/wp-content/images/2008/wp-coldform/coldform-icon.png "Contact Coldform"){kind=icon}
Welcome to the homepage for Contact Coldform, a secure, lightweight, flexible contact form with plenty of options and squeaky clean markup. Coldform blocks spam while making it easy for your visitors to contact you from your WordPress-powered website. The comprehensive Settings Page makes it easy to take full control with plenty of options and several built-in themes for styling the form. Coldform delivers everything you need and nothing you don’t — no frills, no gimmicks, just pure contact-form satisfaction. Now available at the WP Plugin Directory!
Update!
Contact Coldform had a good run (10 years!), but it’s time for something far better: Contact Form X. CFX is superior to Contact Coldform in every way. Contact Form X gives you all the same features of Contact Coldform, plus you also get a recent-email dashboard widget, GDPR options, inline docs, Google reCaptcha, and of course the contact form itself is all Ajax-powered and super awesome.
Contact Coldform = 2008–2018.
Contact Form X = 2018 & beyond..
I encourage all users of Contact Coldform to upgrade Contact Coldform to Contact Form X. You can learn more and download the plugin at the WP Plugin Directory. And yes, I use Contact Form X for my own contact form here at Perishable Press. </update>
Overview
- Plug-&-play: display Coldform anywhere
- Sweet emails: Coldform sends descriptive, well-formatted messages
- Safe and secure: Coldform blocks spam and filters malicious content
- Ultra-clean code: lightweight, standards-compliant, semantic, valid
- Fully customizable: easy to configure and style via Coldform Settings
Features
- Slick, toggle settings panels make it easy to customize Coldform
- Style Coldform using built-in coldskins or upload some custom CSS
- Provides template tag to display Coldform anywhere in your theme
- Provides shortcode to display Coldform on any post or page
- Displays customizable confirmation message to the sender
Anti-spam & Security
- Captcha: Coldform includes challenge question/answer
- Bot trap: hidden input field further reduces automated spam
- Secure form processing protects against bad bots and malicious input
- User-friendly error messages help users complete all required fields
Customize Everything
- Includes option to enable users to receive carbon copies
- Coldform message includes IP, host, agent, and other user details
- Customize form-field captions, error messages, and success message
- Includes three built-in themes “coldskins” to style, or
- Style the Coldform with your own custom CSS
- Option to add a custom prefix to the subject line
- Option to disable the captcha for registered users
Clean Codes
Coldform brings delicious code on every front:
- Squeaky-clean PHP: every line like a fine wine
- Crispy-clean markup: valid, semantic source code with proper formatting
- Shiny-clean emails: Coldform delivers descriptive, well-formatted content
- Better performance: conditional loading of stylesheet only when needed
More Features
- Works perfectly without JavaScript.
- Option to load CSS only when Coldform is displayed
- Option to reset default settings
- Options to customize many aspects of the form
- Options to customize success, error, and spam messages
- Option to enable and disable CSS styles
Installation and Usage:
Typical plugin install: upload, activate, and customize in the WP Admin.
- Unzip and upload the entire directory to your “plugins” folder and activate
- Use the shortcode to display Coldform on any post or page, or:
- Use the template tag to display the Coldform anywhere in your theme.
- Visit the Coldform Settings to configure your options and more info.
Shortcode
[coldform]Template tag
<?php if (function_exists('contact_coldform_public')) contact_coldform_public(); ?>For more information, visit the Coldform Settings page and readme.txt file.
Coldform Screenshots
- Coldform Settings Page (panels toggled closed)
- Coldform Settings Page (panels toggled open w/ default settings)
- Screenshot of the contact form (using default WP theme)
- Screenshot of the “success” message (using default WP theme)
- Alternate “coldskin” styles for the Coldform (default settings)
- Well-formatted plan-text email messages
- Squeaky clean HTML markup
Download
As explained at the beginning of this post, I am retiring Contact Coldform. The plugin will be updated through 2018 or so, and will encourage all Coldform users to upgrade to the far superior Contact Form X. Check it out and download via the WordPress.org Plugin Directory:
160 responses to “WordPress Plugin: Contact Coldform”
Hi, I’ve installed the form and I am having a problem (I am really sorry if this may sound a basic question, I am not a developer and though I manage myself to “understand” some basic coding.
I receive the following error when I try to test the form I published on:
http://www.escapesverticales.com.ar/index.php/informacionWarning: mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 550 Sender is not allowed. in D:\Domains\escapesverticales.com.ar\wwwroot\wp-content\plugins\contact-coldform\contact_coldform.php on line 205Can somebody help me please? Thanks!
@Fernando: It looks like your server doesn’t allow for the sending of SMTP mail. I would contact your host and ask about the error message. Also, if you get the form working, be sure and check out the available CSS skins for styling the Coldform!
I think the problem is that SMTP mails should be autenticated, is there an option to configure the mail account information?
Or it uses a component in which case wich component does it uses?
Thanks a lot for your help!
@Fernando: The Coldform plugin currently does not support authenticated SMTP mail protocols, but it is something that I am looking at implementing in the next version, which will hopefully manifest sometime early next year.
Ok but is there any workaround on the meantime? Like for example using an open SMTP Server and specify which could be?
Do you know any open SMTP server nowadays to use?
Thanks for your support!
LOVE this plugin, but I’m a bit confused. How do we get the form input areas to be prefilled? It looks like thats what the general options in the admin are for, the very top parts, where you can change things like “your-email@domain.com” but they dont appear on the form anywhere. ideally, i would like them prefilled with what is set in the plugin’s admin page, and then disappear on focus.
@Brooke: Contact Coldform is designed to be as lightweight and “no-frills” as possible. Auto-population of fields is a great idea, but is not included with the current version of the plugin. I do provide an unobtrusive, external JavaScript function that will provide the desired “auto-clear and restore” functionality. You may check it out here.
Hi Jeff,
Going back to comments 59 and 60, Headspace2 has added compatibility for Contact Coldform.
You can view our styled version of your plugin on our contact us page.
PS: You can put us under your “Live Examples” list if you want!
-Ray
@SystemTraderFX: That’s great news! Sharp-looking contact form, btw — will definitely add it to the “Live Examples” page. Cheers!
Hey and thanx for the great plugin.
I am wondering, is it possible to have different contact forms using the same plugin?
I want two forms, but with different text fields , because each of them is for a different purpose. I know I can set the fields’ names in the setting, but that will apply to any page with the form tag in it. I dont want that, I want two forms but each with different text fields and input options. Is that possible and how?
( if not , it would be great to upgrade the plugin where the text fields are independent, set up for each form independently, there is a default text fields’ names, unless the user changes them to what he sees fit.
I wish my point is clear, and thank U if U can help.
@Mouad: Yes that is possible, but not with this plugin. There are tons of features that I could add to the Coldform to hype it up, but I would rather cater to the “bare-bones” peeps who are just needing a tight plug-n-play contact form. For multiple forms, check out the one by Dagon Designs (sorry I forget the name), or else I think cForms may also provide that functionality.
Okay, thanx very much , but it would be really nice if you just made the text fields independent as I explained above.. that way the plugin will be suitable to any purpose I need, and I dont have to install two contact me plugin ..
bu thanx anyway for the help :)