Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How can I get a ‘Contact’ form like I see on some of the ProPhoto blogs?
Q: How can I get a ‘Contact’ form like I see on some of the ProPhoto blogs?
A: This may well become a feature in future upgrades of ProPhoto. For now however, you’ll have to get it working on your own, which is not that difficult. If you don’t mind a link that says “Contact” and just opens up the users email program, here’s how to make it happen.
First, open up the file “topnav.php” from your Theme Editor. Stare at it for a few minutes. You won’t understand what all the code means, but you should be able to figure out which chunk of code is for your portfolio, archives, category, blogroll, search, etc. If you’re having trouble, slap yourself once or twice and keep looking.
Once you think you know which chunks of code do approximately what, pick where you want to put your “contact” link. Type or paste in the following:
<li> </li>
Then, visit this page. Type your email address in where it asks for it, and type “contact” or whatever you want your link to say in the next box. Then click on the button that says: “obfuscate my email address.” The page will generate a bunch of random looking code. This is good, very good. This is so no spambots will fill your email box up with ads for Viagra. Copy the code, go back to your “topnav.php” file and paste that junk between those two tags that you just created. It should look something like this:
<li><script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">{document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,97,32,104,114,101,102,61,34,109,97,105,108,116,111,58,100,
111,110,97,108,100,64,116,114,117,109,112,46,99,111,109,34,62,99,111,110,116,97,99,116,60,47,97,62)) }</script></li>
Save your changes and check your work.
Alternatively, you could create a whole page with a contact form. There are some pretty easy to use free plugins out there designed to help you do just that. With a little trouble, you should be able to get one to work on your blog just fine. I would start by checking out delicious:days.
Questions? Instead of emailing for support, leave a comment below so everyone can benefit from any clarification.
I found a contact form plugin that seems to work pretty well:
http://ideasilo.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/contact-form-7/
Instead of inputing the code above between the I input an a href link to my contact form-works well!
@phototristan: thanks!
ok. i downloaded and installed cforms2 off delicious days, now how do i make a page to link to off the top links on my blog? i plan on doing the same with my bio section. thanks for any help!
@matt: you can sort of follow the directions here. Except instead of pasting in javascript between the <li> and </li> Paste in something like this (still between those tags):
<a href="http://www.myblog.com/link-to-my-contact-page/">Contact</a>
Jared,
I am using WP Contact Form III. I tried your instructions and the contact page does not come up. Here is what I put:
Contact
When I pull up my contact page http://www.www.davidsnookphotography/blog/contact/ is what comes up. That is not what comes up when I click on the contact button I just made, nor does the contact page come up.
The masthead is also pushed down into my bio section.
Can anyone help?
@David: I can’t see your contact button code on your site, it looks like you removed it. If you put it back up i’ll be able to check the code.
about the masthead being pushed down, check the FAQ’s for the explanation and solution for that.
Jared,
Thanks for checking this out for me. I had taken it off, but it is back up now.
My previous post may have been misleading. The code has been put back, but it still does not work.
I did see the FAQ about the masthead being pushed down and fixed that.
David, I think the problem is that your quotes around your contact URL are curly quotes instead of straight quotes. if you fix that, it should start to work.
Thanks Jared I really appreciate your help. That did the trick. I did a copy and paste from your response to Matt. Something must have happened to the quotes during that process. I’m glad you caught that.
Jared,
A few quick questions:
1) Once I’ve created that Contact button at top, how do I get it to have a roll-over effect like the others you already installed?
2) I have downloaded and activated the cforms2 plug-in, but now don’t know how to get it on to the contact page. Is there coding somewhere for it? Will it just “know” to go to my contact page when that is accessible via link?
@Jared: Gail, your contact button will look like the others if you fix your code a bit, yours says this:
<li><ahref="http://gailwernerphotography.com/?page_id=86/">Contact</a>
it should say this:
<li><a href="http://gailwernerphotography.com/?page_id=86/">Contact</a></li>
note the space after the “a” and the close li tag at the end.
regarding cforms, you have to edit your ‘contact’ page and insert the form there. i believe cforms has a button right inside your post/page editor to insert the form, but you may have to look at cform’s documentation
Thanks Jared! I should have known better than to attempt coding that at 2 a.m.!!! I got it and the form to work - you’re the best!!!!!
Has anyone else run in to problems with the cforms form actually working? It comes up and looks fine on my Web site, but when I went to test it, first I got a “Error” message. So I corrected my e-mail it was directing to in the admin area (it had gailwern instead of gailwerner), reinstalled the plug-in, and now when I try it, all I get is a “one moment please” message.
Jared, have you heard of anyone else running into this issue? I feel stumped at this point!
@Gail: i’ve had trouble with cforms before. if i remember correctly, i turned off the ajax submission feature, and that helped.