What is a Form Template

A form template is typically a predefined set of fields arranged in a particular order to capture a unique type of data from a user. Traditional Form templates are pre-built files that can be imported into a form builder to auto-create a form, slightly quicker than building a form. Each template has a set of fields that are typically found to be required fields in a particular form. For example, a contact us form will need an email input, a name input, and a text area. With these basic input elements, you will have enough information to receive an inquiry and be able to respond by email to the user's first name with an answer to their questions.

On the programming side, a form template may be comprised of JSON data, which, when imported, can be parsed and stored into the database. Parsing a form template extracts the form template data, such as the form title, field labels, field inputs, and field IDs, among an array of other information. The data that is parsed is stored inside a JSON, which is a format oftentimes used to transfer large amounts of data while keeping the file size compact.

When form templates are created with a form builder, a web developer builds forms as usual and then saves the form. The form data is then stored inside a JSON file and extracted into a JSON file. When you download a template, it is this file you are downloading and uploading to your website or content management system such as WordPress. The form builder has preprogrammed a function to read the template data and then recreates the form as though you are the original web developer.

Often times, a form template is inside a much larger group of form templates called a template library. A template library is an assortment of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of form templates which can be sorted by category and purpose. I.e. contact forms, payment forms, booking forms etc.

Form templates and web themes are different. A theme is an entire website and oftentimes comes with a page builder. A form template does not typically control the other elements in a web page that a theme will. A form template requires a form builder in order to dynamically create the form, unless the form template is an HTML form. An HTML forms boilerplate HTML code can be downloaded and pasted into your website's HTML document, however the industry standard does not define HTML code as a template.

Form templates can be used for a variety of reasons, including serving as a shortcut, a starting point for building more customized forms, and for testing purposes in development environments. Instead of starting from the beginning and building a professional form from the ground up, selecting a template from a template library can cut down on time while ensuring your forms appear and sound professional. Additionally, importing a template can serve as a base point from which you can add additional fields, remove fields that are not applicable for your use case, or further customize each field individually with features like conditional logic or settings fields to be required or hidden.

While some people may believe form templates are similar to those of a theme, they differ in that templates are used to create forms, whereas a theme controls other elements on the rest of the web page. A form can be added to either a pre-built webpage or a webpage can create a layout in which the form can be placed. For example, a login page can be created that creates a container that is centered on the page, and then a form created with a template can be embedded or added to the container.