Formidable Pro Nears Release

By Steph — January 15, 2010
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Looks like I’m blowing my own horn here, but I think Formidable is now one of the best free forms plugins available. I think others would agree, when I say it’ll beat out Contact Form 7 as soon as the HTML is customizable. But for many who don’t know HTML, Contact Form 7 may be too complicated, making Formidable better as it is. Hopefully everyone else thinks it’s as cool as I do….

Although it may be arguable either way for the free version, the Pro version will blow it away! I’ve been working on a new site, which has shown me how truly awesome Formidable Pro is. A huge portion of the site uses Formidable Pro, although it may be surprising that a form plugin could be so powerful. On this site, all the testimonials, lenders, listings, and team member bios are entered into Formidable Pro forms in the admin, and then displayed using an HTML form entirely for that purpose. The content can either be automatically inserted into the selected page, or used as a shortcode in a post or widget. This form also allows the use of shortcodes for other plugins, which makes the options virtually limitless. Simply add a field to get the data needed for the shortcode (ie Nexgen Gallery ID, Flash Video Player file name), and then nest the shortcodes: [flashvideo file=[video_url]/]. Sweet!

Although that is the feature I’m currently the most excited about, there are several others that I’ve never seen in another form plugin. Each form has the option to only be viewed and submitted by logged-in users, limit those users to one entry, make that form editable for them, or even allow multiple editable submissions.

The most original form field can use data from other entries. A drop-down select can be populated with data from entries in another form, creating a link between the two entries. Any field can also be hidden until the user selects a specified option.

I also still have a huge list of features still to be added:

• Stats and reports for forms used as polls or surveys
• More templates
• Import/Export entries
• Auto Responder for visitors submitting the form
• Auto populate lists into drop-down selects (ie states, countries…)
• Select another url to submit the form to

I hope to release the Pro version at the end of January with the already completed features, although a few others may make it in by then.