The contact page is of great importance, so its design needs to be given special attention. The more convenient the contact page is, the more opportunities open to the site owner. A contact page, if designed correctly, can very well impact conversion rates: if a user can easily contact a site manager or administrator, they will have a positive experience. The simpler the process, the fewer fields or forms the user needs to fill out, the better for conversion.

A good contact page can improve a website because it creates the conditions for a good relationship between visitors and the site owner. It doesn’t matter what kind of site it is, it could be an online store, news portal or web service - feedback is extremely important.

Despite this, many designers underestimate the importance of a properly designed contact page, focusing on the design of the main content pages.

It happens that a user needs to quickly contact the site owner or contact customer support. However, nothing works, even if you use the site search. Sometimes the necessary information is present on the site, but it is “hidden” because the designer did not take care of proper navigation and the user simply does not see the necessary link. The desperate user is ready to call the phone, but he cannot find it either.

Companies and web services that pay great attention to the design of contact pages act extremely carefully. Simply because this page does more than just contain contact information: it contains the information the user needs and is interactive. And, most importantly, a good contact page encourages the user to interact with the site again and again.

The contact page is a kind of platform for communication. If the site owner allows clients to express their opinions, then this is already an invitation to dialogue. Web developers and users can benefit from this collaboration and it is for this reason that it needs to be designed correctly.

As you know, functionality in design is one of the key factors. The contact page contains important information, however, there is not too much of it, which can sometimes lead to an erroneous assessment of functionality. The site owner thinks that if he placed the address on the page Email and a telephone, then this is quite enough. Sometimes he's right.

However, double checking for functionality can do more good than harm. Broken links or pages that are overloaded with information are all detrimental to engagement. The site owner may not receive an important message, but the worst thing will happen if he provides outdated or inaccurate information. When designing a contact page, you first need to think about the users, because after all, this page is created specifically for them.

Location

It is imperative to ensure that the contact page is always accessible to users. The appearance of the site, even with an exclusive design, means nothing if users cannot find the contact page. Sometimes you have to design quite complex contact forms, so you need to take care of the instructions in advance. It will be easier for users to contact the site owner if they have a step-by-step guide.

For a designer designing a website, it is important to remember two points:

  • Primary navigation should always include a contact page
  • Users should find the contact page the first time they visit the site, no matter which internal page they land on

Judging by the experience accumulated by designers, users tend to look for contact information on right side page, so it makes sense to place the “Contact Us” link there. However, you need to remember that this information is of secondary importance for the user, so you should not make this section of the site too noticeable or intrusive. The link to the contact page located in the upper right corner of the page works best. And the worst thing is a link in a drop-down menu, since users may simply not notice it.

Simple contact forms

For commercial sites, the contact page is very important, this has already been discussed above. Although it may not be as beautiful as other pages on the site, it should be simple, user-friendly and understandable. If the information is not structured correctly, functions poorly or is misleading, then it is unlikely that the site owner will be able to build long-term relationships with his customers.

It often happens that a user who wants to leave a message leaves the site because he cannot fill out the contact form. Or he doesn't want to if it's too long or complicated. Today's users don't want to waste time filling out detailed forms, so it's worth thinking about simplifying them. The simpler the form, the better, also for the user experience, so you need to focus on collecting basic information.

Exact wording

If we talk about official websites, then on all pages, including the contact page, you need to adhere to clear and precise language about the benefits that the user will receive by becoming a client of the company. What is it for? Information cleared of all unnecessary information is the most in an effective way to attract and retain attention. Nicely summarized data should be concise so that people can easily find what they need.

Also, do not forget about the visual component. And we’re not just talking about attractive contact form designs. If the company has a physical address, you can help users by placing a map on the contact page. For companies located in large cities, it is very important to explain to users how it will be more convenient for them to get to their office, store or warehouse.

Contact page responsiveness

For any online business, responsiveness is everything. This is a strict rule, no exceptions. Since the Internet is developing at a rapid pace, and more and more new devices are appearing on the market, this means that contact information must be available regardless of what browser or device a person is using. Today it is very easy to lose in the competition - all you have to do is not optimize your contact page for display on mobile devices.

Integral components

Which is better: an email address or a contact form? Users want easy ways to connect with the service providers they need, so you need to meet them halfway. You can focus on communication via email or place a contact form - each method has its pros and cons.


Contact forms

  • The contact form should not force users to go to another page
  • The contact form is not intended to create account or login via email
  • The form should have an autocomplete function if possible
  • The contact form should have functionality for sending messages and notifications
Email
  • Communication via email must be safe for the user
  • It is advisable to save all sent data for future use.
  • Work with received messages should be carried out systematically, you also need to take care of data backup
Validation Form

Verification forms are of great importance when you need to know more about your site's users. In addition, the validation process somehow guides the user in the right direction, since it can draw their attention to incorrectly entered data or blank fields. Thus, the verification form saves clients time, since at the end of the filling process the person will be firmly confident that his message will go to the correct address.


Phone numbers

Many companies do not list telephone numbers on their contact page because they are afraid that constant calls will interfere with the work process. However, as with the card, phone numbers on the contact page increase user trust in the brand; customers feel safe, believing that in a difficult situation they will be able to contact a company employee and discuss the problem. A telephone number reduces the distance between the site owner and the user; this applies to both traditional companies and online services that do not have a physical address.

Social media profiles

Social media buttons are increasingly found on contact pages. This approach can significantly enhance the capabilities of the site, especially if customer support is provided 24/7. Many people find it more convenient to connect with a company through a social network, so it’s worth thinking about this way of interacting with the user.


Designing a contact page

Really good pages contacts indicate the high qualifications of the designers who designed them. And the most important part of the design is the visual style of the contact page. In the case of contact forms, this means large fields that make submitting data easier. If the form looks nice, it works better.

Before starting design, the designer should conduct a detailed study of all contact information provided by the client. All elements must be well organized, in addition, they must be harmoniously combined. You should also remember that the contact page should match the color scheme of the site so that the user clearly identifies both the site and the brand.


Conclusion

The contact page should always be visible. This applies not only to the main page, but also to all other pages of the site. When designing a contact page, you need to keep in mind that users will only be able to contact the site owner or support team in the way that they see on the “Contacts” tab. In this case, the key to success is convenience and simplicity. We need to give users what they want. If the user must enter his personal data on the site, then it is best to ask basic questions: first name, last name, email address. The contact form should not contain unnecessary fields. You also need to take care of the adaptability of the contact page - they should be displayed in any browser and on any device. If the contact page is designed correctly, the site's chances of success with users are greatly increased.

Responsive web design is a setup where the server always sends the same HTML code to all devices and CSS is used to alter the rendering of the page on the device. Google's algorithms should be able to automatically detect this setup if all Googlebot user agents are allowed to crawl the page and its assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images).

Responsive design serves all devices with the same code that adjusts for screen size.

TL;DR
  • Use the meta name="viewport" tag to tell the browser how to adjust the content.
  • Check out Web Fundamentals for more documentation.
Using meta name="viewport"

To signal to browsers that your page adapts to all devices, add a meta tag to the head of the document:

As a general rule, if your site works in a recent browser such as Google Chrome or Apple Mobile Safari, it would work with our algorithms.

Why responsive design

We recommend using responsive web design because it:

  • Makes it easier for users to share and link to your content with a single URL.
  • Helps Google's algorithms accurately assign indexing properties to the page rather than needing to signal the existence of corresponding desktop/mobile pages.
  • Requires less engineering time to maintain multiple pages for the same content.
  • Reduces the possibility of the common mistakes that affect mobile sites.
  • Requires no redirection for users to have a device-optimized view, which reduces load time. Also, user agent-based redirection is error-prone and can degrade your site's user experience (see Pitfalls when detecting user agents for details).
  • Saves resources when Googlebot crawls your site. For responsive web design pages, a single Googlebot user agent only needs to crawl your page once, rather than crawling multiple times with different Googlebot user agents to retrieve all versions of the content. This improvement in crawling efficiency can indirectly help Google index more of your site's content and keep it appropriately fresh.

If you"re interested in responsive web design, start with our blog post on Webmaster Central and visit the Web Fundamentals site.

Important: Be sure not to block the crawling of any page assets (CSS, JavaScript, and images) for any Googlebot using robots.txt or other methods. Being able to fully access these external files helps our algorithms detect your site"s responsive web design configuration and treat it appropriately. Caution: To make sure your implementation is successful, avoid the common mistakes. JavaScript

One part of building mobile-friendly sites that requires careful consideration is the use of JavaScript to alter the rendering and behavior of the site on different devices. Typical uses of JavaScript include deciding which ad or which image resolution variant to show in the page.

This section describes different approaches to using JavaScript and how they relate to Google's recommendation of using responsive web design.

Common configurations

Three popular implementations of JavaScript for mobile-friendly sites are:

  • JavaScript-adaptive : In this configuration, all devices are served the same HTML, CSS, and JavaScript content. When the JavaScript is executed on the device, the rendering or behavior of the site is altered. If a website requires JavaScript, this is Google's recommended configuration .
  • Combined detection : In this implementation, the website uses both JavaScript and server-side detection of device capabilities to serve different content to different devices.
  • Dynamically-served JavaScript : In this configuration, all devices are served the same HTML, but the JavaScript is served from a URL that dynamically serves different JavaScript code depending on the device"s user-agent.

Let's look at each of these configurations in detail.

JavaScript-adaptive

In this configuration, a URL serves the same contents (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, an image) to all devices. Only when the JavaScript is executed on the device is the rendering or behavior of the site altered. This is similar to how responsive web design, using CSS media queries, works.

As an example, a page serves all devices the same HTML that includes a element that requests an external URL that serves the JavaScript. All devices requesting the JavaScript"s URL get the same code. When executed, the JavaScript detects the device and decides to alter something about the page, say to include a smartphone-friendly image or add code instead of the desktop alternatives.

This configuration is very closely related to responsive web design and our algorithms can detect this setup automatically. Further, this configuration does not have a requirement for the Vary HTTP header because the URLs of the page and its assets do not dynamically serve content. Because of these advantages, if your website requires the use of JavaScript, this is our recommended configuration.

Combined detection

Combined detection is a setup where the server works in tandem with JavaScript on the client to detect the device"s capabilities and alter the content being served.

For example, a site may choose to alter the rendering of the content based on whether the device is a desktop or smartphone. In this case, the website can include JavaScript that detects the screen dimensions, which are then sent to the server that updates or alters the code sent to the device. , the JavaScript stores the detected device capabilities in a cookie that the server reads on subsequent visits from the same device.

Given that the server returns different HTML to different user-agents, combined detection is considered a type of dynamic serving configuration. The details are described in full in the dynamic serving section, but to briefly summarize, the website should include the "Vary: User-agent" HTTP response header when a URL that serves different HTML content to different user-agents is requested.

Dynamically-served JavaScript

In this configuration, all devices are served the same HTML which includes a element to include an external JavaScript file that can have different content depending on the requesting user-agent. That is, the JavaScript code is dynamically served.

In this case, we recommend that the JavaScript file be served with the "Vary: User-agent" HTTP header. This is a signal to Internet caches and Googlebot that the JavaScript can be different for different user agents, and is a signal for Googlebot to crawl the JavaScript file using different Googlebot user-agents.

Good afternoon friends! In this tutorial I will teach you how to create a contact form in WordPress using plugins. A WordPress contact form is an ideal solution for those who want to maintain contact with their audience or receive requests via email for ordering any services. We will learn how to make a pop-up form in modal window. After reading this article, you will be able to embed the form on your websites yourself. So, let's go.

Why do you need a WordPress contact form?

You may be wondering why I need a feedback form for a WordPress site? Why not just add an email address to the site so people can just write to me?

This is the most common question from beginners who are afraid to add form code to a website without programming knowledge. In fact, you don't need any code at all when creating a contact form in WordPress. In this tutorial, we will create a contact form step by step so that even the most complete beginner can do it.

Below are the 3 main reasons why using a form is better than just adding an email address to the site.

  • – spam bots with enviable regularity use their parsers to pick out email addresses where there is a mention of a mail domain and add it to their database in order to then send you unwanted correspondence. On the other hand, when using a feedback form for WordPress, you get rid of the problem of SPAM emails overwhelming your mailbox.
  • Completeness of Information – When sending mail, people don't always send all the information you need. With a contact form, you decide which fields you need to make it easier for users to send you an email (name, email, phone number, comment, and more).
  • Save time – WordPress contact form will help you save time. In addition to the completeness of the information that you requested from the user and which he will send to you, you can also indicate what awaits in the next step, for example, “Your application will be reviewed within 24 hours” or Watch the video and many other useful things.

Below is an example of the contact form we will create in this tutorial.

Let's start with, gentlemen.

Step 1: Choosing the Best Contact Form Plugin for WordPress

At this step, we need to decide on the choice of the appropriate form plugin. There are a great variety of them, both free and paid. In this tutorial I will tell you about different plugins so that you have a wide choice. In the first case, the WPForms plugin will be used.

Below are the reasons why WPForms is best plugin feedback:

  • Firstly, this is the most beginner-friendly plugin. By simply dragging and dropping the required blocks, you can create a contact form in a few clicks.
  • WPForms Lite is completely free.
  • When you are ready for more powerful functionality and if it is really important to you, then you can upgrade to the Pro version.
  • Great, if these reasons turned out to be sufficient and I convinced you, then we move forward.

    Step 2: Install the WordPress Contact Form Plugin

    For this tutorial we are using the Lite version because it is free and easy to use. You can install it by logging into the blog and going to Plugins - Add New.

    In the search bar, type the name of our plugin and click Install now.

    After installing the plugin, make sure you activate it. This is shown here:

    Step 3: Create a Contact Form in WordPress

    So, after successfully completing the plugin activation, it's time to create our feedback form. To do this, in the blog admin panel, click on the WPForms Menu tab and go to Add New.

    This will allow you to open the Wpforms designer, where by simply dragging and dropping the necessary blocks you can create a WordPress feedback contact form. IN free version Lite has two pre-built templates available (blank and simple form). You can use them together to create the one you need and is convenient for you. In this example, we have chosen the second option for you, i.e. a simple contact form. We will add a name, email and a text field to it.

    You can click on each field to edit it. You can also drag and reorder form fields using your mouse.

    If you want to add a new field, simply select the one you need from the list on the left and drag it to the work area.

    When everything is done, just click the Save button.

    Step 4: Set up Notifications and Confirmations

    Once you have successfully created a contact form in WordPress, it is very important to configure the notification and confirmation forms correctly.

    The confirmation form is what your users see when they submit a form request to you. This could be a thank you message or you could redirect them to another special page.

    Notification forms are the messages you receive when you receive a new request or email from your WordPress site.

    You can customize both of these fields by going to Settings inside the WPForms forum builder plugin.

    By default, we did not set it to touch and left the Confirmation Form field with the message “Thank you for your request” as is. However, you have the right to change it to other text or redirect the user to a separate page.

    The best thing about this plugin is that the default settings are perfect for beginners. They don't have to figure out what to do or what to change. Everything is very intuitive and simple. When you go to the notification settings, all fields will be pre-filled dynamically.

    Notifications are sent by default to the email you specified in the settings. If you want to change the recipient for sending notifications, you can also easily change it. If you want to indicate several email addresses (specified by commas), then please, cards in hand, as they say :)

    The Email Subject field will be automatically filled in with your form name. The name field will be taken from the username (your name). When you respond to a letter, it will go to the mail with the name of the user who filled out the contact form.

    Step 5: Adding a WordPress Contact Form to the Page

    At this step, when you have built and configured the feedback form, you need to create a separate “Contacts” page for it, where you can place it. Either you create a new one or edit an existing page where you can add it.

    We'll use a simple shortcode to embed the form on the page. Simply click on the “Add form” button and select the name of your form to insert it onto the page.

    Great. Now save the page and open the preview to see the changes.

    This is what the form will roughly look like: simple WordPress page:

    If you just want to add a form to a page, then congratulations. All steps have been completed successfully. If you want to add it as a widget to the sidebar, then continue below.

    Step 6: Adding a WordPress Contact Form to the Sidebar

    The WPForms plugin comes with a built-in contact form widget that you can add to your sidebar or any other area of ​​your site (such as the footer).

    To do this we need to go to the section " Appearance» (Appearance)-> Widgets (Widgets). There you will see a pre-installed form plugin widget on the left side. We just take it and set the display order in the desired area in the sidebar using regular drag and drop.

    The next step is to specify the name of the widget and save. Go to the site and see the result.

    This completes the review of our WPForms feedback form plugin. But, especially for you, I have prepared another review of one free plugin, with which we can make a pop-up feedback form and all the same features as in the previous one. It's called Contact Form 7. It's really very powerful and its trump card is that it's completely FREE!

    It can also be made adaptive, that is, the feedback form will adapt to the screen size of your device.

    So, just in case, so you know that they are there.

    How to make a contact feedback form using Contact Form 7

    We continue to understand the issue of creating forms for accepting applications from your website. We have another WordPress contact form plugin ahead called Contact Form 7. Let's install it on our blog and activate it as we know how to do.

    It is already installed on my website, not on this blog. The procedure is standard. Now we need to go to the blog admin area and create a new form that will collect applications and other useful information for us. Go to the section “Contact Form 7” -> Add new.

    Great! Now let's give it an appropriate name, in my case there are a lot of these contact forms. Let’s choose one, for example “Website promotion order form”

    I'll briefly tell you what we need here. First of all, we need to decide how many form fields we want to make. I’ll say right away that there is no need to create 100,500 fields and it’s pointless, for the simple reason that people will close your site and not leave a request. They need to make this step easier. That is, if you think about it, what we need from a person is:

  • His name to address him (personal address)
  • Mail address (feedback, where to send him an offer)
  • Phone number to call immediately (if this happens quickly, then he will become your client anyway)
  • The actual “Submit” button
  • This is the basic data, you can already find out others during correspondence or telephone conversation. Logical? I think yes. Let's move on.

    Creating contact form fields in the Contact Form 7 plugin

    So, we have decided on the number of fields, now we need to create these fields. The following tabs are available to us:

    • Text (Any text field, such as "Name", "Ask a question", or any other title that you will collect through this field)
    • Email (the purpose here is for the user to enter )
    • URL (the site address will be entered in this field, other values ​​are not acceptable and an error will be displayed)
    • Tel (phone number field for our WordPress feedback form, numeric values ​​are allowed, text will give an error)
    • Number (Numerical range of values, can be applied, for example, to the price: “how much are you willing to pay for the site? From 23,000 to 120,000 rubles”)
    • Date (Indicate the date, from what date to what date. Example: “Reservation of a car from 04/13/2016 to 04/25/2016”)
    • Text Area (Text area, here you can enter text as a comment)
    • Drop-Down Menu. Implemented on my blog, you can see it. At the end of each article, I suggest users to create either a simple website or an online store. This is exactly the functionality this option provides.
    • Checkboxes (multiple choice, for example: Website + Logo creation + promotion + contextual advertising)
    • Radio buttons (Selecting one item, for example: “You order or contextual advertising or targeted")
    • Acceptance (Accept the terms of the agreement, i.e. user information, like a public offer)
    • Quiz (Quiz is a series of short questions that can also be inserted into the contact form).
    • reCaptcha (Confirmation that you are not a robot and will not spam.) Good protection against SPAM. Note: this option works if you have connected the Really Simple Captcha plugin.
    • File (If you want to allow users to upload a file to you, for example: “Attach technical specifications for website development”).
    • Submit (Send data by email)

    So, we have decided on the fields, you also know the meaning of each. Let's get started building our contact form in WordPress.

    In the example below I used 2 fields: Name, Email. Accordingly, you will need these tabs:

    By clicking on the text tab (Text) we get to the dialog box:

    Here we need to click on the Field Type – Required checkbox. This is done so that if the user does not enter a name in it, then he will not be able to send you an application; there will be a sending error, indicating that not all fields are filled out correctly.

    You will then see a shortcode for inserting this field and next to it a blue “Insert Tag” button. This will add one new contact form field.

    So that you don't get confused, I highlighted it with style. Code below:

    Full Name

    < div class = "col-md-4" > < label class = "sr-only" >Full Name< / label >[ text* text - 658 class : form - control placeholder "Your name" ] !}< / div >

    And here is the screen:

    We perform a similar operation for the “Email” field. We click on the corresponding tab and get into this dialog box.

    It’s absolutely no different from the previous one, we’re just repeating our actions. My email field also has a style. I provide the code below:

    Full Email

    < div class = "col-md-4" > < label class = "sr-only" >Full Email< / label >[ email* email - 447 class : form - control placeholder "Your Email" ] !}< / div >

    And here is the screen:

    And finally, the “Submit” button. She's all in my styles.

    < div class = "col-md-4" >[ submit class : btn - flat class : col - xs - 12 "Order" ]< / div >

    < / div >

    Important Note: Dear friends, in this example I am using responsive styles to create a contact form in WordPress, meaning it can take forms of any screen size.

    You will see the button in the upper right corner. You definitely won't miss it. 🙂

    We have done some of the work, now we are moving on to the next stage.

    Setting up an email address for receiving applications

    At this step, we need to make some settings so that the letters are sent to us in our mailbox. I will tell you how to achieve this below.

    We need to click on the large “Writing” tab. It will be second after the Form Template.

    The first thing you will see is your tags that you added, we need to insert them into the body of the letter, they will substitute the data that the user enters from the form. I think I explained it clearly.

    Now for the fields:

    • To (Where the application will be sent, in my case, this is my email address, you can specify several addresses where to send applications)
    • From (Field From, i.e. the value will be substituted that the application comes from my studio website)
    • Subject (Serves to determine which form the application comes from, in our case it is an application from the site promotion form).
    • Additional Headers (Additional headers, we do not touch them, they are needed for the correct submission of the form)
    • Message Body (The body of the message, here you indicate from whom the letter came and from what address, for example: “From: Ivan” “Mail address: vasya @ mail. ru”)
    • File Attachments (Attachments to the file, do not touch)

    Now we need to configure notifications about the successful or unsuccessful sending of an email from the WordPress contact form.

    These will be messages that will be shown to the user in response to his actions with the form. By default they go to English language. I have translated into Russian the most necessary things for you. There will be more than enough of them, and if not, then Google translator will help you. So let's get started.

    • When sending a message successfully: “Your message was sent successfully. Thank you."
    • If a message is sent incorrectly from the form: “An error occurred while sending the message. Please try again later or contact the site administrator."
    • Filling error: “Filling errors. Please check all fields and submit again."
    • The sent data is identified as spam: “Error sending message. Please try again later or contact the site administrator."
    • Some conditions must be accepted: “Please accept the conditions to continue.”
    • Some fields must be filled in: “Please fill out a required field.”
    • The length of characters in the field has been exceeded: “Too much data has been specified.”
    • Insufficient length of characters in the field: “Too little data specified.”
    • Invalid date format: "The date format is incorrect."
    • Early date at minimum limit: “The date specified is too early.”
    • Late date at maximum limit: “The date specified is too late.”
    • File download failed: "The file could not be downloaded."
    • Unallowed file type: "This file type is not allowed."
    • Loading too large file: "This file is too big."
    • The file upload failed due to PHP errors: "File upload failed. An error has occurred."
    • The number format entered by the sender is incorrect: "The number format is incorrect."
    • Number is less than the minimum limit: “This number is too small.”
    • Number greater than maximum limit: "This number is too high."
    • The sender did not enter a correct answer to the question: “You entered an incorrect answer.”
    • The e-mail address entered by the sender is incorrect: “Invalid e-mail.”
    • The URL entered by the sender is incorrect: "Invalid URL."
    • The phone number entered by the sender is incorrect: “Invalid phone number.”

    Very good. We are done with setting up the form, now we need to insert it into the site. To do this, using already known technology, let’s go to an existing page or create a new one. In my example, I will show you an example of an existing form on a page on a WordPress site.

    Since our form collects applications for website promotion, let’s go to a similar page.

    To insert our contact form, we need to copy the shortcode assigned to it by the plugin. It is available under your form name.

    We copy and paste into our page, after going to text editor(not visual). Shown in the screenshot below:

    Let's save our page and see what we end up with in the browser:

    Super! Now let's try sending the form without filling anything in. And this is what we will see.

    A form submission error occurred because the user did not provide the required data in the fields. Now let's enter the correct data and see what we get in this case.

    Click submit and this is what our form says:

    Now let's see what our application looks like. They come to my email. Let's check the delivery:

    Let's go inside to make sure the encoding and all the data are correct.

    Everything is alright. The form works fine and submits data. Now we can collect applications that will come to you when you start, if we are talking about regional promotion.

    So, we told you how to make a contact form in WordPress on a website page. Now I will tell you how to make a pop-up adaptive feedback form using our Contact form 7 plugin.

    Making a pop-up responsive contact feedback form in WordPress

    In order for our form to become adaptive, i.e. “fluid”, we need to connect another plugin, or rather its addition to Contact Form 7 - it’s called Bootstrap Contact Form 7. We install and simply activate and that’s it - it works. You don't need to make any settings with it. Set it and forget it.

    In the next step, I'll tell you what changes we need to make to make our form pop-up and responsive. I made a similar implementation on home page your studio website. To do this, let’s go to the index.php template, which is located in the “Appearance - Editor” section. We will only work with code, manually.

    Our popup form will appear in a modal dialog like this:

    To achieve this result you will need the following code, I will present it in full in a snippet:

    Order ×Close Leave a request

    < a href = "#" class = "btn btn-primary btn-flat" data - toggle = "modal" data - target = "#modal2" >Order< / a >

    < ! -- Modal -- >

    < div class = "modal contact-modal fade" tabindex = "-1" id = "modal2" role = "dialog" aria - labelledby = "myModalLabel" aria - hidden = "true" >

    < div class = "modal-dialog" >

    < div class = "modal-content" >

    < div class = "modal-header" >

    < button type = "button" class = "close" data - dismiss = "modal" > < span aria - hidden = "true" >×< / span > < span class = "sr-only" >Close< / span > < / button >

    < h4 class = "modal-title black" id = "myModalLabel" >Submit your application< / h4 >

    < / div >

    Nowadays to have adaptive design This is the sacred duty of any site, especially if your site is commercial. Because the mobile audience is growing at an impressive rate. Yes, you will say that the mobile audience has been growing for a long time, for many years, but now this is a new trend and the growth is almost exponential. Smartphones are becoming ubiquitous. If you sell something, then responsive design is vital for you.

    According to statistical data from Yandex company reports, despite the general mobilization, users buy more from computers than smartphones, but at the same time choose goods and services more through mobile devices. Google states that almost half of users search for products on a smartphone.

    According to MediaScope, the mobile audience is growing faster than others, with an increase of 15% in 2017. The total mobile audience is 66 million people, which is 54% of the total population (2017). At the same time, the number of desktop users is decreasing.

    According to the Kommersant newspaper, the RuNet audience in the mobile segment grew in 2017 from 47% to 56%. Moreover, the growth is due to the older generation, because among young people the level of Internet use has long reached its maximum limit.

    The largest provider of services related to network technologies Cisco is testing 5G networks due in 2020. Cisco predicted in 2016 that by 2021 mobile traffic will grow sevenfold.

    According to research from the online store Rechi, which sells shoes and accessories, it was noticed that mobile shoppers have become more decisive. Smartphone users began to buy even when they are in line, at lunch or before bed.

    What is responsive design?

    Adaptive web design has appeared since 2011, but despite this, a large proportion of sites in the RuNet are still displayed crookedly on mobile devices. For example, a menu may clutter up the entire screen, or, on the contrary, the site layout extends beyond the edges of the screen and you have to use terribly inconvenient horizontal scrolling; even flipping the screen won’t help you here. Also, without the adaptive version, the text from the smartphone will be very small and impossible to read at all.

    Adaptive Web Design is the design of website pages, built in such a way that all elements dynamically adjust to the screen, depending on its size, in order to show only the most important elements on the screen in limited conditions. The smaller the screen, the fewer objects there are on it; only the most important remains. On large screens, we are used to seeing a bunch of side bars, menus, widgets and other similar things on a website, which, in fact, are used very rarely. Therefore, in the adaptive version, only the really important and functional remains. For example, for an online store this is a header with a phone number, a transformable menu and products, the rest is superfluous, but this is enough for a purchase.

    It is generally accepted that responsive design for mobile devices needs to be designed in advance, even before the site is created, so perhaps the valiant web master will be disappointed. But this is a big misconception, so it is not at all necessary to completely change the entire website template just for the sake of adaptability or completely change the entire CMS. You can adapt your current website very quickly, without any drastic changes or complications.

    Is there a difference between adaptive and responsive website layout?

    In fact, there is a difference between the concepts responsive and adaptive. Once upon a time, when smartphones had not even thought of conquering the planet, layout designers and programmers started an argument. Which optimization method for mobile devices is better: the (RWD - responsive) method or the (AWD - adaptive) method. The difference is that the responsive method changes the size of elements as a percentage: images, videos, blocks, etc. But adaptive design is not based on the size of the browser, but focuses on the user and has three predefined layouts: for a smartphone, tablet, laptop.

    Nowadays, adaptive layout uses both options; they complement each other. The page layout (grid) can be radically rearranged at control points that correspond to the sizes of the three main types of screens: monitors, tablets, smartphones. Within the control points, the layout is stretched, filling the empty space with elements. This way the website will look optimal no matter what the screen size is.

    Why should a website be responsive?

    Every year, search engines focus more and more attention on the mobile adaptation of websites. A separate search for mobile devices has already appeared. For example, Yandex uses the “Vladivostok” algorithm, which takes into account the site’s suitability for mobile devices, so if your site is not adapted to mobile devices, then when entering a query via a smartphone, a visitor will not see your site in the search results. And if the site does appear in the search results, it will be far at the very bottom

    Without a responsive mobile version, visitors will experience difficulties on your site, which will have a negative impact on the behavioral factors of the entire site. When a visitor opens the full, bulky version on a smartphone, he will most likely immediately close your site without even trying, and each such visitor will spoil the behavioral factors. Behavioral factors greatly influence SEO rankings, including time spent on the site and the number of pages viewed. The introduction of an adaptive version solves all these problems, without any side effects. In some projects, site traffic can increase up to 40%.

    Convenient analytics system in Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica. The systems automatically determine the mobility of your website and generate ready-made reports with statistics on traffic and conversions made through mobile devices. This is very useful for determining the mobility of your audience.

    There are no downsides to adaptive layout. There is only one minus: the old generation does not like overly simplified and large elements, they are accustomed to big screens and a huge number of small items on the menu.

    Which is better: mobile or responsive version?

    One of the ways to optimize for smartphones is to create a separate mobile version of the website, which can only be opened from smartphones. The device type is determined on the server side. Recently, it has been used less and less, because it is much more expensive than adaptive layout and is more difficult to develop and support. The mobile version is only suitable for very complex and non-standard web services.

    Unscrupulous large agencies take advantage of this by scamming customers. After all, the cost of implementing a separate mobile version is several times higher than the implementation of adaptive layout, so it is more profitable for them to dissuade you from the adaptive version.

    Why is a responsive website better than a mobile version?

    • In adaptive layout, changes in the code will be displayed immediately for all devices. For example, if you need to change or add new important functionality. If the site has a mobile version, you will have to make changes in both versions. And so on every time, which doubles the costs of programmers and layout designers.
    • In a responsive website, the content is not duplicated, unlike the method when a mobile version of the site is created.
    • The address on the page for desktop and smartphone in the adaptive version remains the same, so you don’t have to set up redirects every time.
    • There is no need to create content each time on separate pages for mobile and standard devices.
    • In addition, Google said at one of the Digital October conferences in December 2016 that it is necessary to make an adaptive version, and the mobile version is utter nonsense.

    Life hack! Did you know that adapting a website for mobile can be done much cheaper than you think? Because, in fact, this does not require any great effort and the work is completed in a short time without any consequences for your site. As a rule, web studios offer bold price tags: from 10,000 ₽ to 20,000 ₽, but in fact, adaptation can be ordered for only 500 ₽ remotely on the freelance exchange Kwork.

    How to do mobile version site?

    Before implementing adaptive layout into your website, you need to plan the layout; to do this, you need to determine which elements to keep and which to remove. And do this separately for the smartphone and for the tablet. Space on smartphones and tablets is limited, so we won't have to sacrifice too much important blocks and leave only functional elements and only what helps the visitor.

    By the way, most of the new premium WordPress themes support the mobile version, as well as amp pages. We have complete guide" ", read and create responsive WordPress sites.

    For example, side bars usually perform an informative function, sliders, etc. The menu is too long, and in the rich version it turns into an endless mess, so it is removed in separate button. The same thing with a long search field. The elements should not be close to each other to prevent pressing two items at the same time.