If you have a website, adding a simple HTML form to
your site, such as a feedback form, contact form,
or other web form, can be a tough task. Most programming
novices create their first website using pre-developed
templates and have no advanced knowledge of HTML programming.
As a result, creating a simple form that can email
the responses from the form to the webmaster can be
a difficult and frustrating task. If you just posted
a new website, but you do not have a HTML email form
uploaded and you need to quickly provide a way for
your visitors to contact you, then you should simply
post your email address on your Contact page. However,
if you want to create a sophisticated online form
to collect information from your visitors and respond
to their questions, you need to know something about
HTML and another programming language called PHP.
Installing the web form on your website is the easy
part. If you are not familiar with how to create the
code for a web form, there are many different online
tutorials that can teach you how to create the code.
After that, you will need to create a file that will
process your form after someone fills it out and send
the answers to you via email. The code used to process
a HTML form is often referred to as Formmail. Formmail
is written in a programming language called PHP, which
is more advanced than HTML. There are many websites
where you can download the Formmail file for free.
Formmail has been used to process and email the results
of web forms since 1997. When you download Formmail,
make sure it has code that prevents spam from being
sent through your HTML form. There are many different
versions of Formmail floating around the internet,
and some have built-in spam protection while others
do not. Many times, inexperienced programmers will
put an online form on their website that does not
include code to at least try to prevent spammers from
utilizing the HTML email form to send spam to hundreds
or even thousands of people. As a result, those who
have been spammed complain to their internet service
provider, who then directs the complaint to the hosting
company that handles your website. This can be a huge
problem. If you do not have the patience to create
your HTML form yourself, there are more than a few
form creation services on the internet that provide
a simple way for you to create a form without doing
any programming. These third-party form creators usually
do not provide you with the PHP code you need to process
the form. Instead, they process it for you on their
own servers. If you are comfortable with programming,
you might want to try to create your HTML email form
yourself with the help of some online tutorials. If
you do not have the patience to do the work, use an
outside service that creates the web form for you.
Either way, it is important to have an HTML form so
that people can contact you directly through your
website.