Contact Form

So you can’t put a contact form on a page you’ve created with a different template? Huh?

That plugin doesn’t require changing any template files in your Theme.

So I suppose my question now is, does anyone know how I put a contact form on a page I have created with a custom template?

Again, you DO NOT put <!--contact form--> into any template file, you put it into the contents of the Page.

Create your custom Page template if you want, it doesn’t matter. Just click “Write Page” and put <!--contact form--> into the contents area.

You can however select your custom Page template if you wish. I personally use a no comments Page template (my standard page with the comments code removed).

Thanks. If you put <!–contact form–> into the contents area, how does it know where to place the form in your page layout?

Just try it. *sigh*

It gets displayed wherever the_content() is called.

If this your Page’s content in the admin area:

You can contact me here:

<!--contact form-->

Thanks!

It’ll be outputted just like any other normal page, except with the contact form being inserted where <!--contact form--> would otherwise be.

OK, now I see. Since I was using a custom template that didn’t have the_content() on it, it wasn’t being called.

I realise this is difficult, but to someone who doesn’t know php and is trying to understand WordPress, it is extremely non-intuitive. I managed to teach myself how to modify MovableType effectively, but there is a lack of clear tutorials for WordPress, and I find the Codex to be very difficult to use (and incorrect, in the case of the Write page listing).

Thanks for your help and patience.

@unihead:

<quote>but to someone who doesn’t know php and is trying to understand WordPress, it is extremely non-intuitive.</quote>

I think this observation is unfounded and unfair. If, according to you, you do not know PHP, I wonder why you attempted to create a custom template php file without adding the requisite call functions which are elementary. And the change in design can be achived by changing the appropriate css file (if you make one) if you find it difficult to make a custom template.

And WP’s codex is by far the best software manual ever written in a colloborative framework, IMHO. So many are vying to bring out a print version in pulp.

I have cohabited with MT for long and it is no cakewalk with its own bizarre tag formats. And it has no amateur support any longer, similar to the help you get from the vibrant WP community (though at times you may get flamed, if you cross the Plimsoll line!).

Nice flash site you have! ??

Thanks, I appreciate your perspective. Keep in mind though that if you read what I said it did not cast aspertions on anyone involved with WordPress, or WordPress itself. I’m referring to my own lack of knowledge, and how *I* find it difficult.

It is true however – I believe – that I can’t find any good clear tutorials and that the WordPress paradigm is more difficult to get your head around than MT (dynamically created pages vs static pages). Personally – again – I find the Codex difficult to use, and one page at least seems to be out of date (that on creating new Pages) but other mileage may vary.

As these are all personal opinions, they are by definition unfounded – but hardly unfair! ??

I must say, though, I’ve made about six posts on this forum, and although I’ve eventually got answers, in virtually every case someone has got a bit impatient or shirty with me even though I have tried to be as polite as possible and tried first to find my answers in the documentation. I know that newbies can be frustrating to the ‘old-timers’, especially newbies who are more designers than programmers like myself, but surely the future of WordPress lies in bringing newbies into the fold a bit gently …?

PS Thanks for the compliment. As someone who now does mostly XMTHL/CSS sites, it is desperately in need of a revamp! Cobbler’s children not getting new shoes and all that …

Very eloquently explained! ??

I too have some issues with the page templates selection in case of certain themes yet to be resolved.

Yes, the seniors and pundits get peevish at the freshers especially when they assume that RTFM and/or a search would have solved their problems. But sometimes the elements of the roadblock that someone faces may be a peculiar one which needs some fresh approach. Though it is common with any support forum that you should be prepared to get a dose of flaming, curt remarks and mild admonitions, you ultimately get someone condescending to help!

And regarding your site, I’d prefer it a bit bigger. And where are the cobbler’s children?

And visit our south India next time!

<quote>where are the cobbler’s children</quote>

Oh God!

Missed the proverb and the metaphor – my mental slothiness to blame!