Each line of the Fields section is a Joomla custom field. Formulus reinvents neither the types, nor the settings, nor the validation: it arranges them and draws them. So you can find every field in Formulus → Fields, with all of Joomla's settings.
Adding a field
Right-hand column, Add a field block: click a thumbnail, and the field is added at the end of the list, just before the submit button. Its line is highlighted so you find it straight away.
The seventeen types
| Type | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Text | A free line: name, company, town. |
| An address, checked on sending. The phone keyboard offers the @ sign. | |
| Telephone | A number, kept exactly as typed. The phone keyboard is the number pad. |
| Text Area | A message over several lines. |
| List | One choice in a drop-down list. |
| Radio Buttons | A single choice, with every option in view. |
| Checkboxes | Several possible choices. |
| Date | A date, with Joomla's calendar. It is written out in words in the mail. |
| Number | A number, with the browser's arrows. |
| Web Address | A link, checked on sending. |
| File | An attached document (chapter File uploads). |
| Consent | The "I agree that my data may be used..." box. |
| Terms acceptance | The terms and conditions box, with the link to their page. |
| Section Heading | A subheading inside a row. |
| Help Text | An explanatory paragraph, with no input. |
| Separator | A horizontal line. |
| Submit Button | The button, with its label: "Send", "Request a quote". One per form. |
What is set in the line
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Field | The type. |
| Label | The text above the field, the one the visitor reads and a screen reader announces. |
| Row | The number of the row it goes into. |
| Column | Left, centre or right. Only shown when the row has several columns. |
| Width | Full, 2/3, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 of the column. Two halves in a row sit side by side. |
| Star | The field is required. |
| Eye | The field is shown. A crossed-out eye removes it from the site without deleting it. |
| Cog | The field's settings (next chapter). |
The column is not an alignment. To put two fields side by side in the same column, give them a width of 1/2: they follow each other in the list and share the line. The order of the list stays the reading order, on the keyboard as on screen.
On a phone, everything goes back to full width, in the order of the list.
List choices
A list, radio buttons or checkboxes open a Choices section under their line: one displayed text per line, and an optional value. Without a value, the text is what gets stored; give a value when you want a short code in exports (website rather than "Website creation").
A list starts with "Choose". On the site, a single-choice drop-down list opens on this empty line, not on its first choice. If the list is required, the form refuses to send until the visitor has chosen something, and tells them so. In an optional list, choosing nothing is still an answer.
Required, and how it is said
A required field carries the word "(required)" written at the end of its label, not a lone star. A sentence above the form explains it, and it only appears when there is at least one required field.
Up to date for Formulus 1.0.602.