#1 — Louis

I’m astonished, wow !

That plugin was my very dream not so long ago, and wow, now it’s real !

Your introduction with the bullets list was very appetizing, but the screenshots of the markup, OMG !

I’ve not seen a code so clean since the Mootools core maybe… it really recalls the WordPress slogan “Code is Poetry”.

But all this joy was broken by some unintended fact : the download link is broken :(

It leads to : http://perishablepress.com/mint/pepper/orderedlist/downloads/download.php..
?file=http%3A//perishablepress.com/press/wp-content/online/plugins/Contact-Co

I hope you find a fix quick as i sure ain’t the only one waiting to try it !

#3 — Louis

Okay, my feedback after 10 minutes playing with the plugin:

• index.php to prevent directory listing ? I think that should be .htaccess’ work. Maybe you’ve put this file for novice users, after all why not.
• localization is not doesn’t cover every area : the <legend> elements and the submit button text can’t be translated.
• a way to deactivate certain fields should be given in the admin configuration page (I’m thinking of a checkbox next to the “Name (required)” (for example) fields.

It’s a wonderful out-of-the-box plugin, with great information inside, and a clean presentation on the outside (the “footer” in the configuration page is very smart). Congratulations !

#4 — Louis

Oh, my comment is all broken ! I used a HTML list (ul tag) and a legend tag between “the” and “elements”.

Also, it would be very nice to have more space in the comment textarea on your blog, because it’s hard to write in such a tiny place. More width please :)

(and a button to preview the comment ? Noo I’m asking too much :p)

#7 — Louis

Your rescued my comment well, he’s now as first intended.

Localization is a must have nowadays, but I think field exclusions is important too. I mean, a form with more than 3 fields often exhauste in advance the reader. He’s like “oh damn, too many fields, I’d better not write him.

Glad to heard we’ll have more space to write here soon ! About the preview idea, you seem to have chosen to go with something “live”, but my opinion on is that a classic static preview would be fine.

Or if you think live is better, I think a button would be nicer than a “letter by letter autoupdating live box”; a button that would create the preview dynamicaly on submit. It can be done really easily with Mootools (I prefer Mootools over the others libs, but they can do too).

What do you think ?

PS: damn, I want the 404 plugin !!

#9 — Andreas

Hi,

is there a way to use the Contact Coldform by puting the directly in the page template source instead of adding it to a post?

Thanks!

#11 — Stephen Cronin

As I said elsewhere, this looks great! So clean - I wish my code looked like that!

Congratulations - I’ll be trying it out when I’ve got the time..

#12 — weston

Excellent job on the plugin.
May I suggest perhaps a simple improvement to address the field exclusion would be to provide css id for each of the respective fieldsets. Then the user could turn them off with just css.

#13 — Louis

I disagree with weston. Why generate a content if it’s not of any use ?

If everything worked like that, imagine what search engines crawlers would see, or worse, imagine what pages would look like without CSS applied.

#15 — Gail

Hi,
I really like the plugin, but my mail server requires smtp authentication, how/where (in the code) can I enter my smtp username and password so the plugin will actually send the email to the recipient?

#17 — 6ft5

Hey, found your form today and implemented it on my site.
It´s excellent! Thanks for helping me postpone learning to code a while longer!
:-)

#19 — Rasheed

That’s Plugin looks cool.

I am trying to use it my non English blog without success.

When i try to send a message without completing the required information the non English characters become gibberish as described in these links:

http://www.rasheed-b.com/tmp/cold.gif
http://www.rasheed-b.com/tmp/cold2.gif

I tried to find a solution but at last i gave up. May i find here helpful information.

Thanks.

#21 — Rasheed

Hello Perishable,

Thanks for your quick respond.

I still investigating it more and I don’t thinks it’s a translation issue. I am familiar with translating plugins and this case looks like something different.

I tried to check this similar plugin:
http://www.deliciousdays.com/contact

And here is the result:
http://www.rasheed-b.com/tmp/diff.gif

Arabic characters looks normal.

#22 — Mustafa Saadi

Hello Jeff, rasheed,

The problem is that all _$POST variables are converted to HTML entities using the htmlentities php function. I don’t think you need that anyway — emails shound be sent in plain format. Anyway, we have uploaded the fix archive to rasheed’s server. Here is the link: http://www.rasheed-b.com/tmp/contact-coldform-fixed.zip

Regards,
Mustafa Saadi.

#24 — Mustafa Saadi

Jeff,

I completely agree with you. You can really use the following: htmlentities( $html, ENT_QUOTES, “UTF-8″ ); or maybe htmlentities ($s, ENT_NOQUOTES, “UTF-8″); — remember that you should use the “header(’Content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8′);” when posting the data. Best to probably use strip_tags() and mysql_escape_string(), the strip_tags() function simply looks for any markup elements in a given string and removes them.

Regards,
Mustafa Saadi.

#26 — Rasheed

Hello Jeff,

I found today a conflict between your plugin and absolute-comments plugin.

http://planetozh.com/blog/my-projects/absolute-comments-manager-instant-reply/

Try to activate this plugin in your blog and try to use absolute-comments plugin and see what’s happened.

After deactivating your plugin it worked.

Can you check this issue ?

Thanking you in advance.

#28 — Chris

Is this plugin really not working with Wordpress 2.5 ??

#29 — Rasheed

Chris,

Mine is 2.5 and the plugin works like a charm.

#30 — Kathy

Love this plugin, very easy, works right out of the box.
THANK YOU!
Of course, I have a tiny little question, the name and email input fields are run together, i there a way to get them to line up like the rest of the form?

#32 — Kathy

That did it :)
I played around with the left margin & the width a bit. It looks VERY NICE now & it works too.
Thanks again.

#34 — Cormac

Great plug-in! I’m still tinkering with styling options but I;m loving it already! Thanks so much.

#35 — Stan

This plugin looks great ! Wish I could use it. Sadly it doesn’t work for me. Everything seems to function properly…except it just doesn’t actually send the mail.

#38 — Stan

Thanks Pershable

I’m trying to track down the problem, because I can put a simple mail function using a plain text editor in a static xhtml or html page and it works fine. So does other software that utilizes this function.

So, I am checking with my hosting service and thinking it’s something to do with my .htaccess and/or the fact that my Wordpress is on a sub.domain. Or perhaps it’s my Wordpress version itself (2.2..1)

I am determined to get this to work. It looks like too good and necessary of plugin for me to pass up.

I will find the solution then come back and let you know when I track down the problem, in case anyone else needs the info in the future..

#40 — gg

Thanks.

#42 — Stan

Update

Ok, sometimes it’s the simple things that drive you crazy. I checked and double checked everything scoured through my php.ini…read almost every post at the large support forums of my webhost. Checked my error logs and never saw a thing relating to coldform. Saw some other errors but nothing to do with coldform

Turns out I had to de-activate my ‘Automatic Upgrade’ plugin. Wierd I know, but that seemed to release the coldform from whatever limbo it was in and it began working !

I had installed and activated the automatic upgrade plugin to try it out…it didn’t work…and I forgot to deactivate it.

Then later on when I installed coldform it (auto upgrade)) interfered with coldform somehow.

Then I decided to check my error logs immediately after attempting to use coldform and an error popped up about the auto upgrade plugin…that’s when I hit pay dirt.

Wish I’d have thought of that sooner…whew

Great plugin !
Thanks,
Stan

#44 — Stan

I don’t know what’s up with the auto update plugin except it didn’t work. When I forgot to de-activate it, my blog still ran fine. So fine, that’s one reason I have not been in a hurry to upgrade. I’m still at WPv 2.2.1

But I’m thinking that when I’m ready I’ll probably do the upgrade manually. I will feel better having complete control and know every thing that has taken place…got to be better than not knowing what actually went on.

As far as any changes to the coldform files it doesn’t seem like their were. I wasn’t paying very close attention to detail when I glanced through the coldform files before installing. I could have missed something.

I would bet that nothing did change in the files since coldform is working flawlessly. (now that the auto update plugin released it from a headlock)

Thanks Jeff.
Regards,
Stan

#46 — derek

I am curious if your plugin can generate an automated response email thanking users for filling out the form?

Thanks.

#48 — Louis

I’m not sure if this is a great idea. Does anyone actually like receiving such mails?

I know I don’t.

#50 — derek

I think providing an option would be wise. I agree not everyone always enjoys getting and then deleting these kinds of emails. However, I have worked with clients before where this is a feature they have demanded. Thanks for your feedback.

#51 — Louis

My vision of things is: we should not encourage such bad practices, even if it makes us miss (stupid?) clients and therefore, money.

Of course, I understand that not everyone will go by my side :D

#52 — Jon

Wanted to say thanks for a great wordpress contact form plugin! I’ve been using a number of contact forms on my blog, moongrabber, and they’ve all had problems until now.

#54 — Juan PAblo

Hello! I’m trying your plugin in my site ebanking.cl

Gor the moment it’s working fine, although it would be nice to have an option to disable some fields, in ym case, I would prefer to disable the spam field.

My best regards,

#56 — Ignacio

Hello ! I just tried to upload, set up and post Coldforms but all I got is to print the tag … it’s very strange, I’m sure it must be some little thing I’m doing wrong …

I could set up the options wonderfully, but then, when I did a special post and entered the tag, I simply get it printed … :5

Does it need a specific loop ? I have a very standard loop, but it doesn’t seems to work.
I’ll look further to see what’s happening !

By the way : what a gorgeous design in this site ! Cheers !

#57 — Ignacio

Obviously I was using some rich text format in the visual editor : I’ve pasted the tag in the html editor and all works fine now. Well this is great ! Many thanks for this wonderful plugin.

#59 — SystemRunner

Hi Jeff,

Just downloaded your plugin and love the clean syntax behind it!

However, there’s a conflict with the meta tag plugin, HeadSpace2.

With both Coldform and HeadSpace2 activated:

1) After submit, the success message that gets displayed is duplicated in the [title] tag (with HTML tags and all).

2) When I check the email from the form, three copies of that email are in my inbox.

When I deactivate HeadSpace2, these problems no longer occur.

Would this be a problem with your plugin or HeadSpace2?
I’m thinking it’s HeadSpace 2, but I thought I’d mention it here as well!

Thanks for reading,
-Ray

#61 — Fernando

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 recieve the following error when I try to test the form I published on:

http://www.escapesverticales.com.ar/index.php/informacion

Warning: 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 205

Can somebody help me please? Thanks!

#63 — Fernando

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!

#65 — Fernando

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!

#66 — Brooke

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.

#68 — SystemTraderFX

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

#70 — Mouad

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.

#72 — Mouad

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 :)

#73 — Alejandro

Hi! Thanks for creating the plugin ContactColdFom is very good!

I just wanted to know if it is possible to “expand” the space for the “antispam question, for if it is too long after sending the data (in the plugin options) is cut, then do not understand (is cut).

In short, what we need is to “expand” the capacity of the form of options, which puts the antispam question and asked to write a longer time.

Thanks, sorry for my bad English.

#75 — K

Hi,

ever thought about putting the single fields into -tags, so you could float them easier?

thanks!

#76 — K

Hi again,

sorry for writing multiple comments in such a short time.

after looking over your code, i want to say: it´s pretty clear and good (as far as i understand it ;)

one thing that will prevent me from ever updating your plugin again: i have to hack so many things in the code (every english text, automatic mail content, form-size and, as alejandro asked: maxlength, etc.). everything works more than just fine and is pretty easy to use. as i expected. if you allow me to make a suggestion for future updates: moving more and more stuff from code to admin-options and a seperated style-sheet (maybe admin option to switch between style-sheets #1-#3).

thanks anyway for this plugin. :)

#77 — Herr Kaiser

Is there a way to add your form with a php-function to a template?

thanks a lot!

#79 — K

hm. I tried simply calling it via it´s function-name. didn´t work. maybe i have to insert it into some hook. i don´t know. but due to the fact, that i couldn´t hide it and found dagon-form with a php-function in it´s doku, i switched. nothing personal. just the time :)

thanks for your plugin anyway. i´ll use it somewhere else. it´s still good :D

#80 — Mohammad

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the great plugin,

I have a little problem though;

It’s installed perfectly, but when I fill in all the required fields and hit send, the confirmation page doesn’t show, I instead receive the following message:(firefox):
“The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.”
(ie):
“Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”

No email message is received.

I use the Arabic version.

I’ll keep trying to get it solved, and update you if anything.

Thanks again for the contact form, I used to use formmail, but not any more :)

#81 — Mohammad

Update: it’s now showing internal server error (500)

#82 — Mohammad

It’s got solved,

The first message was a result of wrong configured charset (page format).
The second is a server problem.

Thank you very much.

#84 — CherryPie

Thanks for this plug in, it is very neat and tidy. Here is the link so you can see it in use on my blog:

http://www.cheriesplace.me.uk/blog/index.php/contact/

#86 — CherryPie

Thanks for the compliment :-)

#87 — LuAnn Arena

Hey there-

Just installed Coldform and a custom skin. Looks great but all my email tests have failed so far. I receive the thanks for submitting message, but that’s it.

Any ideas? I’m a bit new to customizing my blog but I can find my way around ok.

Many thanks