WordPress Front End Forms for User Publishing

March 4, 2016

There are many reasons to use user front-end forms for content publishing. A variety of WordPress plugins enable this feature with their own customization capabilities and restrictions. The intention remains the same: Allowing users to post from the front-end, avoiding the generic WP admin dashboard and easy customization.

Our recently published free plugin, Mage Front End Forms aims to keep this process as seamless and flexible as possible.

Mage Front End Forms

User Front End Post Form Capabilities

The main features that distinguish the Mage Forms plugin are the multiple forms that can be created, for every post type, and the customize-ability, unique to each created front-end form.

You may add as many front-end user forms with Add Form, each containing the following settings:

Select the Post Type including custom post types and the Minimum User Role if not public.
Choose to redirect users to the submitted post or to any other destination, and whether the post is submitted as pending, draft or published immediately.
Each created form can be set to notify an email after successful submissions and even assign a custom post author for forms accessible by non-logged-in users.

Building Front End Forms

You have complete control over every input field, which to include and where to place them by using the WP Front End form editor. The form elements, including the submit button, are listed in shortcode format within each New/Edit Form page, which can be placed and customized as desired.

The only form elements required, regardless what post type a form is set to, are the title, [text name="post_title" label="Title" req=1], and the content [textarea name="post_content" label="Content" req=1], which are placed with the corresponding shortcodes.

Shortcode Parameters and Form Validation

Most input elements share the same shortcode parameters, which are similar to the HTML input parameter equivalent, such as placeholder, name, id, class and more.

Other parameters like label, which prepends the input with a label, and req, which sets an input to be required. An input set to required receives the required markup, class and label cosmetic changes (if label is added via the parameter), and automatically get validated during form submission.

Mage Forms Usage for Website Types

Here are just a few types of websites that may benefit from this Front End User posting capabilities:

Guest Post forms and Multi-Author Blogs.
Online Business Directory with Listing/Address Submissions
Product forms for Marketplace websites.
User Profile and Event Forms on custom social networks.
User-driven wiki / knowledge-base sites that enable users to add/edit content to topics.

Those are just a few ideas of what this Front-End Post Publish Form can be used for.

Plugin Download and Support Forums

You can install this plugin from the WordPress plugin repository either by searching mage or mage_forms from your New Plugin admin page in your WordPress site, or by downloading directly from Mage Forms on WordPress.

Feel free to submit feature-requests and bugs at its support forum on WordPress.

7 Responses

Laura
I have been looking for a plugin such as this. Thank you so much for your hard work in creating it. I do have a couple of questions though: 1. So it can be set up to "register users" in some way? 2. Is it user friendly for dumb people - meaning is there a lot of steps other than shortcode for the set up. Thanks so much! I am looking forward to your reply. Laura Sherman.
Said on Mar 13, 2016 by Laura - Reply
- Maximilian
  Thank you for your comment Laura. Based on that, I updated the plugin to 1.0.9 today to automatically generate a Front End Form for Posts,when activated, so all you need to do is copy and paste the form shortcode where you want to present it. You may edit the forms settings and input elements relatively easy by editing that form. In regards to an option to register users, that may be something I'll work on next. Any other issues or ideas for the plugin are greatly appreciated.
  Said on Mar 14, 2016 by Maximilian - Reply
Dino
Hello and sorry for my English, when you can buy Mage Forms Pro? Thank you Dino
Said on Jul 13, 2016 by Dino - Reply
Tiffany Hunter
I am trying to figure out the shortcode if i want to display only the parent category and then another instance that would show the corresponding child categories. For Instance if I have one [select name="post_category" label="STATE"] that I want to display just the parent categories which is a list of states and then repeat this same short code with the cities listed under said state. Here is an example hierarchy: -Colorado --Arvada --Broomfield -Florida --Lakeland --Jacksonville Also, is there a way for users to add their own child categories (cities) and/or tags if they are not already in the list?
Said on Jul 20, 2016 by Tiffany Hunter - Reply
Clay
Hey thanks for the plugin, love the fact can use custom meta for custom post. Wanted to mention if there was a reason your function mage_img_delete in diagrams.php isn't finished it doesnt delete the featured image from wordpress media storage. Just asking because I had to add a function and WordPress wp_delete_attachment to get it to work. Thanks though this is awesome! Also I stumbled away at adding external URL for feature images but was wondering if this might be a future feature, or multi page forms. I see you will be adding frontpage editing too - When is the release, any ideas yet. Thanks again
Said on Apr 6, 2017 by Clay - Reply
- Maximilian
  Hi Clay and thank you for pointing this out. I updated the plugin to 1.1.3 today which resolves issues with the featured image and attachment upload elements, including the ones you describe. You are now able to set an item upload limit for attachments as well. I will do my best to incorporate your suggestions within the next updates. As for the front-end editing, this is already in place and working, but lacks description. Take the ID of the page where your form is placed on, and use it in the [mage_edit id=#] shortcode. This generates a link to your form page, with the parameter ?pid=# (using the ID of the content you'd like to edit). I'll be adding more descriptions and simplifications regarding front-end editing in the next update. Thank you again for the feedback, it's much appreciated.
  Said on Apr 9, 2017 by Maximilian - Reply
AL360
How do one add a date_picker to a Mage form Please someone provide insight, Thanks.
Said on Sep 7, 2017 by AL360 - Reply