In the form builder, a section is the basic layout tool. It allows you to group related questions (short for input field and label) and display them in a specific way. For instance, a section of type ‘fieldset’ shows a border around its content.

Version 2.3 of the builder introduces two new types of sections: inline and table row. They allow you to alter the default ‘one field per line’ layout.

All the questions (fields+labels) placed inside an inline section are displayed on the same line.

Inline Layout

Inside a table row section, fields appear in their own cell. Labels are shown in the column header and they are not repeated if you have more than one row. The title for the row (left-most column) is the name given to the table-row section.

Table Layout

Duplicate section link

To quickly add rows to your table, copy your first table-row section using the ‘duplicate section’ link (in the section properties panel).

Here are a couple of examples preloaded in the Form Builder:

• Table layout
• Inline layout

Technorati Tags: web development, web forms

There’s nothing like a rainy weekend for spending some time on the computer, working on a big update for the Form Assembly.

The account structure has just been revamped - we now offer an unlimited-responses, free-for-ever plan. The catch? It’s ad-supported. An advertisement is presented to the user after each form submission (we also left some features out of this plan). The ads are from the adbrite network and are, of course, clean.

This change allows us to simplify our offer (as opposed to the pay-as-you-go plan with the first 50 responses free) while covering the needs of many users who want to try out the service or don’t need the extra features.

In related news, the server has had some hickups lately, due to an increasing number of users. For a bootstrapping start-up that’s a good problem to have… for you, the user, I’m sure you’d rather have reliable service, so we’re upgrading the server. More info about this is coming soon.

Technorati Tags: Form Builder, Form Assembly