Newsletter form in wordpress theme doesn't work?

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by bluefox, Apr 23, 2009.

  1. #1
    I am using the Blue Columns wordpress theme which has a newsletter subscription form in the header.php.

    I was wondering how to make it actually work, I can't find anything in the theme itself and email form plugins just make a new email form on a new page or post.

    I would like to get the form thats allready on the theme to work with a my web hosting email responder or just simply get the form to email me viewers contact details.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated! I can send you a copy of the theme to try and look at, I have looked at the php code in the header php and this is what it looks like....

    <!-- Place your subscription form here, or simply change the your_php.php to the name of your script -->
    <form class="main_form" method="post" action="your_php.php">
    <span class="form_text">Name</span><input class="input_boxes" type="text" name="name"><br />
    <span class="form_text_two">E-mail</span><input class="input_boxes" type="text" name="email">
    <input class="submit_box" type="submit" value="Submit" name="submit">
    </form>
    <!-- End of news form -->

    Ideas anyone?

    Most email subscription forms or large and bulky and request to much info, I'm just after a name and email and the ready email subscription form is perfect but I don't know how to get it to work.

    Here's the blog address...
    www.bluefoxmarketing.org

    Thanx for any help!!!!
     
    bluefox, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  2. Cash Nebula

    Cash Nebula Peon

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    #2
    You can install a free mailing list script, like the popular PHPList.
     
    Cash Nebula, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  3. bluefox

    bluefox Peon

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    #3
    You will have to forgive me if I'm missing something, but I'm not after something to manage a list, just some php code to send me the email addresses which people enter into the form on my wordpress blog. The wordpress blog theme I'm using has a contact form but it doesn't send anything.
     
    bluefox, May 13, 2009 IP
  4. Cash Nebula

    Cash Nebula Peon

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    #4
    Sure, you can send email with the PHP mail function:
    mail($to, $subject, $message);

    There are heaps of tutorials that show you how, like this:
    http://apptools.com/phptools/forms/forms1.php

    But sending email can get complicated so using a good script avoids a lot of problems.
     
    Cash Nebula, May 13, 2009 IP
  5. CarolinaGirl

    CarolinaGirl Peon

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    #5
    Hi Bluefox,

    The way to make the optin form work is by replacing the <form class="main_form" method="post" action="your_php.php"> portion of the code with corresponding portion of your own optin form code leaving the remaining code intact. The code you get from whatever script or service you use may be longer or more complex.

    This portion of the code is the actual form that people see on the blog. leave it intact, if you can.
    <span class="form_text">Name</span><input class="input_boxes" type="text" name="name"><br />
    <span class="form_text_two">E-mail</span><input class="input_boxes" type="text" name="email">
    <input class="submit_box" type="submit" value="Submit" name="submit">
    </form>

    Be prepared to do some trial and error work, because every script and service is a bit different. It also helps if you can read html or at least see the similarities between the original code and the code you're trying to replace it with. In some cases, the "form_text" and "submit_box" portion won't work with a particular optin script or service, so you'll have to change it.

    IMPORTANT: Make sure you make a backup of the original file you're working with.

    HTH,
    Tamara
     
    CarolinaGirl, May 14, 2009 IP