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”
Thanks again, Mustafa! You are a true wealth of information. Your shared insight and work with the plugin will help improve form security and language support in subsequent versions of the Contact Coldform. Thanks again for taking the time to help!
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.
Yes I have downloaded the plugin and will look into it as soon as possible. Thanks for the heads up!
Is this plugin really not working with WordPress 2.5 ??
Chris,
Mine is 2.5 and the plugin works like a charm.
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?
Hi Kathy,
I have just the ticket for you! Copy and paste the coldskin-#3 code into your theme’s stylesheet. After uploading the file and refreshing your browser, everything should line up quite nicely :) For more information about this CSS “skin”, check out this article. Please let me know if I may be of any further assistance ;)
That did it :)
I played around with the left margin & the width a bit. It looks VERY NICE now & it works too.
Thanks again.
My pleasure — happy to help! :)
Great plug-in! I’m still tinkering with styling options but I;m loving it already! Thanks so much.
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.
@Cormac: excellent — I am glad you are enjoying the Coldform plugin! Don’t forget to check out the freely available, Coldform-customized CSS skins designed to easily and beautifully transform your contact form into a virtual work of art ;)