create pop-up form

Permalink
Hello everyone! I was wondering how I can create a pop-up form (using form block). Instead of adding the form block to a page, I want a link, when clicked, opens a pop-up form window. What's the best way to do this? Thank you all!

dennis007
 
Mnkras replied on at Permalink Reply
Mnkras
you can make a custom template....
dennis007 replied on at Permalink Reply
dennis007
Hmmm...okay, so I can create a pop-up from a custom template? Would you mind to give me a quick step-by-step? Thank you, I really appreciate it!
Mnkras replied on at Permalink Reply
Mnkras
well, what kind of popup? a jquery popup? thats probbably easiest,

do a search for Custom Template, there are a few step by step instructions, your going to need to wrap it in a div and load a jquery plugin
dennis007 replied on at Permalink Reply
dennis007
I see...well, I plan to have a link on the home page that says "blah-blah...whatever"...and when clicked, a pop-up window about 800X600 px pops up, and has a form on it...where name, email, and a comments box can be filled out, and submitted. I hopes this helps.
ThemeGoodness replied on at Permalink Reply
ThemeGoodness
I did this for a client on converting a flash site to c5. I created a blank template that had nothing in the header and footer (ie not calling logos and footer text) and placed the form on a separate page excluding it from the nav using this page template. Then I used tony's pop up add on to pop up the form from my button on the regular page. Hope that makes sense.


Steph
bryanlewis replied on at Permalink Reply
bryanlewis
I used Tony's pop up package as well but this solution doesn't work as expected. Basically you need a ajax form solution. I'd love to have a seamless option for this as well.

Here is the link to my forum post with Tony.

http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/popup/questions-and-dis...
dennis007 replied on at Permalink Reply
dennis007
Yeah, I really didn't want to shell out any money though. It is very strange that someone has not really found a way to make this simple...i think there were pop-ups in like 1995!! LOL...It should not be this hard! I basically just want to have a form pop-up when a link is clicked...it can be integrated with the form block already made...it can even be the form block we have now, but to pop-up in a small 500x500 px window, ya know? I just don't get it...and I might even consider buying Tony's pop-up thing...but I hear not so great stuff...so what to do? Any coders out there want to take on a simple pop-up form? It would take me a year to figure out, but you would think a coder could do it in ten minutes in their sleep! Thank you everyone!
jbx replied on at Permalink Reply
jbx
Firstly, a bit of background about popups. You're absolutely right, there were popups years ago. They were complete html pages that opened using javascript. They were annoying and everyone hated them, so the browsers fought back with popup blockers. So that doesn't work anymore. So now, because content creators and site owners still want popups despite the fact that they often come with accessibility and useability issues, we have javascript modals. I often browse the web using a netbook or mobile phone and I hate them, but apparently they look cool to everyone using a nice big screen, so we have to build them. </rant> :->

So, onto your popup form block. The toughest bit here, is that when you hit submit, it's going to reload the page, which will kill the popup that the form is contained in and therefore break the form. Tonys block gets around that by using and iFrame inside the popup, so only the iFrame has to reload. iFrames are yuk. (personal opinion). So, the only thing left is to use javascript to submit the contents of the form using AJAX, as Bryan mentioned above.

Getting the form to load in a popup will be easy. Just name a div and place an area inside it. Then add your block to that area. then use css and jQuery to hide it and then display it in a jQuery modal when the user clicks the link.

Getting it to submit using javascript is a little trickier, 'cos you need to handle the response and display it properly inside your popup.

If you decide that you want to shell out some money, I'd be happy to build it for you.

Jon
dennis007 replied on at Permalink Reply
dennis007
Thanks for the info...you are right. From my evaluation, AJAX is the way to go. As for the "annoyance" factor, they are annoying, other than when used to convey a message on a heavily read blog, or for a site where you may have daily/weekly returning visitors where you provide free content that's in demand. Then (if done tastefully) they are excellent ways to provide a reminder, a sign-up for an exclusive article, etc.

I am happy the browsers decided to fight back...ads used to be cheesy, and still are (for the most part). Especially those damn emoticons that freaking laugh and talk...I swear, if I had a scope and a rifle....I digress...sorry. As for the pop-up you speak of...how much cash would I be shelling out? (A ballpark est. is fine). Also, to be clear, this is a triggered pop-up...not automated, but welcomed. A user is somewhat agreeing to the pop-up because of the descriptive link.

Anyway, thank you for your response. I appreciate any feedback!
synlag replied on at Permalink Reply
synlag
Tony popup works well, also with forms in combination with jquery.form.js that already lives in the concrete/js folder.

Further reading

http://jquery.malsup.com/form/

Build this into you're theme and make sure the js is in your header files.
dennis007 replied on at Permalink Reply
dennis007
What about this (http://fancybox.net/)? A lot of sites use this...but it looks really hard to imp[lement...I have used a form in the past where all I had to do was upload a folder and some java files up to the old server, and oila!....This looks a bit trickier...anyone want to take a stab at it?...thank you everyone!! You are all SO SMART!!!