Two months ago we [rallied up beta testers](/2007/05/10/call-for-formaholics/ “Beta Builder”) for our new form builder, and thanks to all of our testers we are proud to see it go live today. All around the builder should feel more solid and responsive. Approximately 90% of the code has been rewritten from scratch. While all show stopping bugs should be gone, please let us know if something looks amiss. A list of all improvements are below, and we encourage suggestions for the future.
###Interface Consistency
– Fields use the same markup as live forms, and render special text
(such as HTML) accurately.
– Field Instructions now show in the builder.
– Color coordination and functional consistency have been added to
the form and field properties.
– Improved Tooltips and smarter / dynamic help messages.
###Drag & Drop Improvements
– **Drag to add.** You can now add a field anywhere to your form by
dragging and dropping it into the preview.
– **Drag and scroll.** As you drag, the page will scroll with you if you
have a longer form. This works for both adding and reordering.
###Speed Improvements
– The page load time for editing forms with a large number of fields (over 20) has been cut down dramatically.
– The browser no longer chugs when working with 25+ choices for checkbox multiple
choice fields.
– Drag and drop and field editing speed has been improved.
###Other Improvements
– Warning prompt if you try to leave the builder without saving.
– Drop down fields can now be made required.
– Bulk add for drop down choices.
– Predefined values now show up as you edit in the form preview
– Smarter default naming (so adding a phone or address field automatically starts the label as Phone or Address in the Field’s title)
– Additional languages and a quick preview link to your [Translate pages](/translate/).
– Field title now allows for more text.
– Delete key no longer deletes choices.
###Foundation for Improvement
While the powerhouse features aren’t in yet (mind you, the new rendering and performance improvements were no quick fix), the backend is now ready for them. Here are some of the ideas in the works.
– Min/Max ranges for numbers, characters, and words.
– Automated Start/End dates for publishing active forms.
– Encryption on certain fields.
– Hidden fields on public forms.
– Multiple label alignments
– **New fields:** likert, rich text, page break, and a few more surprises.
Comments
I presume when you say it will go live that it has not yet gone live…?
The new features sound awesome so we logged straight in to test it and could not find anything new. It’s a real shame we were not part of the beta testing, for that sure would have been fun…
Posted July 26th, 2007 by NI-LIMITS.Hmm, it is live. At least it should be. When you build/edit a form, is it taking you to http://user.wufoo.com/build/formname/ ? If not, then there may be something wrong with the URL building. Thanks for the heads up and any follow up information you can give.
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Chris Campbell.Yes, it is sending us to the correct URL as you stated, but we cannot find any of the new fields…?
Posted July 26th, 2007 by NI-LIMITS.Additionally, do you have any idea if and when the “sliding value” feature will be coming…?
Posted July 26th, 2007 by NI-LIMITS.The new interface is super responsive and the “feel” is still great! Awesome job on the re-write guys!
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Boris Masis.Thanks, Boris!
@NI-LIMITS – The new fields are not in yet. The form builder was redone so we can implement them in the future.
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Chris Campbell.Well, I was thinking that I was going strange when adding a field to one of my forms today, but then I released cool stuff was happening. I like the Temple Drop down, that will help newbies alot and the ability to add your own, true MAGIC!! One thing happened. On multple Drop down the default radio button didn’t show when I clicked on it. once I saved it, the one I selected showed up correctly, Maybe I was in the edit form just as you guys were pushing it out??
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Duncan Cunningham.Were you using IE7 by any chance? I think there might be a display issue that I briefly ran into.
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Ryan Campbell.where can i sign up for the beta?? i need acess to the new fields imediately
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Ben.Love the drag & drop…but I would love it even better if I could drag from one window (a form I’m editing) to another window (another form I’m editing). Is this possible?
Posted July 26th, 2007 by siouxzieb.Is there any likely near-term support for database-driven “branching” of the content that is shown in multipage forms , based on the information that the user enters?
An limited example of how this is done can be seen in the “multipage branching” form option at http://www.formsite.com/samples.html .
It would be wonderful if prior user-specific data (e.g. entries from the user’s earlier sessions of interacting with a wufoo form) could be used to generate updated questions for the current session.
This would open a lot of markets for wufoo integration with eLearning and certification systems.
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Mark Frazier.Multiple pages and login & branching are two highly requested features. I’m not sure what you would consider near-term support, and I don’t have a specific timeline for you. The best I can give you is that they are actively being developed right now. We’ll definitely make a post about it when they are live, so subscribing to the blog will keep you up to date.
Posted July 26th, 2007 by Ryan Campbell.