I’ve been scouring the WordPress plugin pages, other blogs, and the Web in general looking for a decent contact form that works with WordPress. Nope, not a one to be found.
Well, I’m sure there is one, but I haven’t found it yet.
Every plugin I found was easy to implement, but didn’t seem to flow seamlessly with WordPress. I was looking for something that would take minimal stylesheet changes, and pretty much performed like the comments form on blog posts.
I got everything from horribly aligned tables to plugins that had all the bells and whistles of a toddler’s Christmas morning. I wanted simplicity, so I decided to implement an idea I had a while back. Just use the normal comments form to allow people to contact me.
Basically, what I’ve done is delete a few things from the normal “comments.php,” and renamed it “contact-comments.php.” Then, I put together a page template called Contact (contact.php). With this technique, no comments show on the contact page, but they show in my WordPress dashboard. You can currently see what it looks like on my contact page.
Before going further, I must mention that I haven’t tested this with comment plugins that pull in the latest comments or anything. So, if you’re using something like that, I wouldn’t suggest this. Also, this probably isn’t the ideal solution for people who get a lot of emails through their contact form every day — it could become an organization disaster.
If you want to use this method (although I don’t recommend it and am still looking for a decent contact plugin), the first thing you need to do is download the Simple Contact Page (1123). Unzip it to your “/wp-content/themes/current-theme” file.
Now, you need to create a WordPress page called “Contact” or “Contact Me” or whatever. In the right sidebar you will see a drop-down list under “Page Template.” Choose “Contact.” At the top of the right sidebar, under “Discussion,” uncheck the box marked “Allow Pings.” Now save your work and you’re done.
Easy and simple, but that’s about all you can get out of this method. I’m sure there are some other methods we could use to separate the comments left on our contact pages, but I’m not interested in building that, unless I can’t find a decent contact plugin.
Yes, I should probably be spending my time working on quality content for this blog and not being lazy and posting something like this, but maybe someone would actually like to use this.
So, any good contact form plugins? Something that doesn’t require a lot of work on my part? Something that looks, feels, and plays as nice as the WordPress commenting system?
This looks fine. I’m using it now. However do I have to edit the “top-navi.php” whenever there’s a need to add a page?
One thing tho, does the comments or messages goes straightly to my email account or it’s just a normal comment box? I tried to leave messages but it went through like a normal comment on my blog.
“With this technique, no comments show on the contact page, but they show in my WordPress dashboard.”
Ok I got it, so only me can see the comments when I’m logged-in at wordpress, right?
K, yes, only you can see the comments on your Contact page through your WordPress dashboard. Not sure what your asking with “top-navi.php” though.
This is really only a temporary solution for me, but it can be useful because you already have great spam blocking with Akismet.
I use since ever intouch:
http://adahas.com/work/intouch
I really like it!
Rudi, I’ve tried Intouch and have decided that it wasn’t what I wanted. I’m actually still using this idea right now. I’m loving it because it’s simple and I definitely don’t have spam because of Akismet.
i use the wp-contactform plugin
http://ryanduff.net/projects/wp-contactform/
Thanks Paul, but I’ve tried Ryan Duff’s too. I’m actually enjoying using the method I’ve described in this post now.
props. this is actually a great idea. i’ve always thought that contact forms were over shoot. the one i use on my website is sort-of nice, but it’s a great example of too many bells and whistles, it’s on right now and I haven’t quite finished the CSS on it… Anyways, I may give your idea a try.
cheers
Miguel
I actually have another simpler idea that requires less coding if you don’t mind waiting a few more days for the tutorial.
hi,
thanks for this,
i need help, my side bar ain’t visible
http://www.rajeshrana.com/contact-me/
regards
Thanks for sharing this one. I might use it one of these days.
This is just wonderful. Thanks!
Saves me from having to check another email address and it is sooo simple to use
Yeah! It’s what I was looking for. I also tried several plugins, but they don’t really fit in my page or I have to change my stylesheet. As a comment it should work fine with askimet. Easy and clean! Thanks!
So.. did you ever come across that perfect contact form for Wordpress? I currently have a freelance project that’s asking for a contact form with several radio button options that they want implemented in the form and I’m having a hard time finding something that allows me to add those.. so any luck?