A form is shown in two ways: on its own page, through a menu item, like an article; or inside an existing page, through the Formulus module.
On its own page: the menu item
- Menus → your menu → New.
- Menu Item Type → Formulus → Form.
- In the Form list, choose it by its title. Only published forms are offered.
- Give the item a title and save.
The page address comes from the menu item's alias, as everywhere in Joomla.
A form without a visible menu entry
To lead to the form from a button ("Request a quote" at the bottom of a service page) without adding it to the navigation, create the item in a hidden menu: a menu published in no module. The address exists, and links can lead to it.
Inside an existing page: the Formulus module
To put a form in a sidebar, at the bottom of every page or under an article, use the module that comes with Formulus.
- Content → Site Modules → New → Formulus.
- In the Form list, choose it by its title.
- Heading level: the level of the form's title in the page, from H2 to H6. Choose it from the headings around it: under an article whose subheadings are H2, take H3. Row titles take the next level.
- Choose a position and the pages where it shows (Menu Assignment tab), then save.
The module shows exactly what the form page shows: the same fields, the same error messages, the same protection, the same custom CSS. After sending, the visitor stays on the page they were on: the thank-you message, or the error summary, appears in place of the form, inside the module.
The module has its own title, Joomla's. The form already has one: leave the module title on Hide, or the page shows two.
The simplest way to place a form in the middle of an article is the editor button: see the chapter Placing a form inside an article. What follows still applies if you prefer to do it by hand.
To place the module in the middle of an article, give it a position that does not exist in the template (for example formulus-contact), then write {loadposition formulus-contact} in the article.
A form that is unpublished, or restricted to another access level or language, is not shown: the module stays empty, nothing breaks.
What the page shows
In order: the page heading if the menu item asks for one, the form's title, its introduction text, the form, then its closing text. The fields come out in the order of the list on the Fields tab, even a field you put in another field group. The form's title can be hidden (Texts tab, Show Title): screen readers still read it. After sending, the form gives way to the thank-you message, and focus moves to it: the visitor knows straight away that it has gone.
A site in several languages
A form has a language (Texts tab), like an article. Make one form per language, each with its own labels, and one menu item (or one module) per language.
The template
Formulus borrows your template's grid, fields and buttons: under Corpus, its alert messages and section backgrounds; under Cassiopeia or another Bootstrap template, Bootstrap's alerts and colours. There is nothing to set, and changing template changes the form along with the rest of the site.
Up to date for Formulus 1.0.602.