How To Build a Registration Form
The first thing you will want to do is to come up with a descriptive name for your new form and type it in the box provided. Examples: Volunteer Application, Sr. High Youth Camp, Mission Trip: Brazil.
Click "Submit" after you have typed in the name for your new form. At this point you will be taken to the "Form Settings" screen. On this screen you can change a number of Form Settings which are displayed there on the left side of the screen.
If the form is marked "Active", that means that any one can reach the form by navigating a web browser to the URL that is shown at the top right. If the form is marked "Inactive", no one can fill out the form.
The base price is used if the form costs money. In the example of a Volunteer Application, the Base Price should probably remain "0" as, it normally doesn't cost money to volunteer. If the form is for a Missions Trip, you would put the cost of the missions trip in the Base Price field.
If the form needs an expiration date, as in no one can fill out the form after a certain date, you will want to use the calendar tool there to fetch the expiration date. If you decide that no one should fill out the form after December 1st, then your expiration date should be December 2nd, because the form expires (as in not available), on and after December 2nd.
The "Email" field should contain the email address of the person who wants to be notified every time the form is filled out. If the form is for a Mission Trip, perhaps the email address for the person in charge of the Mission Trip should be used there.
Every time you update any of your form settings, click "Update" when you are finished to save those settings.
Once you have configured the form settings to your liking, you will want to design your form by clicking the link underneath "Form Questions", which reads, "Click here to manage questions/comments".
You will now be looking at the "Form Designer" page. This is where you can manage the questions and comments that the form will contain. You will notice that "Your Email Address" has already been entered as a question for your form. Every form will ask for the user's emails so a receipt can be sent to them.
To add a new question, simply click, "Click to Add a Question/Comment" at the bottom right of the screen. There are several different types of questions you can add to your form, and those should be based upon the answer that you want to collect. For example, if you want to ask the user for their name, you would use the following:
Questions Type: Text- Write In
Question/Comment: Your Full Name
You can choose whether or not their answer to the question is required or not by selecting "Required" or "Not Required" in the drop down box next to question type. You chose "Text - Write In" as the question type, because you expect them to type their name in a box.
If you were to ask the user if they were a member of the church, you might use the following:
Question Type: Multiple Choice Drop Down
Question/Comment: Church Affiliation
1.Member
2.Regular Attendee
3.Visitor
If you are designing a form that does not cost money to fill out, leave the multiple choice answer dollar fields with the "0.00" filled in. If you were designing a form that did cost money to fill out, you might have a multiple choice question that changed the price depending on what answer they select for a given question. For example, if your form was for a Mission Trip, and you are giving them the option to purchase a missions trip T-Shirt, you might ask a multiple choice question using the following:
Question Type: Multiple Choice Drop Down
Question/Comment: Would you like a T-Shirt?
1.No Thanks, 0.00
2.Yes - SM , 12.00
3.Yes - MD, 12.00
4.Yes - LG, 12.00
5.Yes - XL, 12.00
6.Yes - XXL, 13.00
In an example like this, you can give them the option if they want the T-Shirt. If they do, then it would add $12.00 (or $13) to their cost, and that amount will be added when they are taken to the payment screen.
Another common multiple choice question would be asking for the user's Marital Status. In that situation you might use the following:
Question Type: Multiple Choice Drop Down
Question/Comment: Marital Status
1.Single, 0.00
2.Engaged, 0.00
3.Married, 0.00
4.Divorced, 0.00
5.Widowed, 0.00
It is not advised to ever use the phrase, "Choose One" as one of the possible answers in a Multiple Choice question. By inputting that as a possible answer, you give a user the opportunity to select that as their answer, thus allowing them to not answer your question.
You may also need to state something on your form, that doesn't require an answer. In this event, use the "Comment" question type. This way you can make a statement such as, "The next 3 questions pertain to your children", or "Remember to attend the mission trip meetings on Thursday nights at 7:00 PM".
As you experiment with the Form Designer, hopefully you will get better and better at designing forms that are easy to understand and give your users to opportunity to answer questions in the easiest way possible. It is recommended that each time you build a new form, to go fill it out yourself at the form's unique URL, that way you can ensure that you are capturing all the information that you need.