Forms methods - ucsf-ckm/ucsf-library-ux-and-web-documentation GitHub Wiki

Overview

We have a few different types of forms on the main library website.

1. help center form (Zendesk)
2. general contact form (Zendesk)
3. single area contact forms (WPForms)
4. subscribe to newsletters forms (WPForms)

Help Center widget

• There is a Help widget on every page. When the user does not find an answer right away, it offers a general contact form with 5 choices for I need help with.
• Zendesk generates the form, and form submissions open a ticket in Zendesk.

Help Center pages

• There is also a Contact us link on every page of the Help Center (part of Zendesk, not part of main library site) that opens the same general contact form with 5 choices for I need help with.
• Zendesk generates the form, and form submissions open a ticket in Zendesk.

General contact form

• There is a Send a Message link in the footer that opens the same general contact form with 5 choices for I need help with.
• Zendesk generates the form, and form submissions open a ticket in Zendesk.

Single area contact form

• When a user is already on a page in a specific area, the Contact us link provides a more focused form (fields vary)
• We create these forms using the plugin WPForms Plus and insert individual forms into our pages with the Elementor Pro widget: WPForms
• Form submissions usually notify a Zendesk email address that opens a ticket for a specific Zendesk group. In a few exceptions, notifications were just sent to an @ucsf.edu address, but that no longer works after campus increased email security in 2023.

Placing an existing form into a webpage via the Elementor Pro widget for WPForms

Example of a WPForms form embedded in a page

Example of notifications and other settings for each WPForms form

example of necessary Zendesk steps

We need a form that will submit a Zendesk ticket to the group UC Library Search Support.

1. Set up a new group in Zendesk: UC Library Search
2. Create a new address in Zendesk [email protected] and use triggers to that assign any tickets to group UC Library Search
3. Create a form on the library website using WPForms that submits to [email protected]

Subscribe to newsletters form

Users can subscribe to library newsletters by entering their name and email into a WPForms form on a library web page. The WPForms Campaign Monitor addon enables this direct connection, which can be configured in WordPress by going to WPForms > Settings > Integrations. It requires an API key from Campaign Monitor. The connection between a specific WPForms form and a specific Campaign Monitor newsletter is configured in the form's Marketing tab. A single form can allow subscription to multiple newsletters, but our current setup has a separate form for each newsletter.

Opt-in confirmation email

When someone subscribes, the form generates a success message: Thanks for subscribing! You will get an email shortly to confirm. This message can be modified in the form's Settings > Confirmations.

When the address hits Campaign Monitor (Campaign Monitor > Lists & Subscribers > Settings > Confirmed opt-in email), it sends out a confirmation email.

These interactions are controlled by these settings for each list (which become available after setting Subscription opt-in to Confirmed opt-in (confirmation required)