Hello,
I have been a long time V3 user.
The one feature that caused me to consider V4 was the ability to assign a different value than the display data on a checkbox. I know there are many other benefits - but it is useful background to know that for me, this one point feature drove the need to consider the learning curve of v4 (which I was expecting some learning curve).
I thought v4 would be an awesome upgrade so I spent more than half a day checking it out.
Immediately the following items which were simple in v3 became hair-pullers in v4:
*) Needing to add "Show HTML" to the event tab. Could have cost me many hours figuring out what was wrong with my installation. Was frustrating to have to hit forums and videos to get out the most basic "hello world" form.
*) No ability to create text labels and headings. I really like that v3 is self contained - does not need me to create a content page to do a complete form solution. Eventually saw a recommendation to use a "Custom Code" element - but this is not only counter intuitive, but the results are much less desirable than v3's built-in elements.
*) The inability to specify "Label Width" in v4 means that my form fields and labels crunch together and look very amateur.
Overall it feels like there is a understanding gap that most of us don't do a ton of forms on a daily or monthly basis. For my site, I need a form and spend an intense couple of days doing it and then will go months and months - sometimes more than a year - before needing another form or to make updates to an existing one. The product needs to make sure that the most basic tasks are discoverable and/or done for me - both to create a good "First Use" experiences and so that I don't have to pound forums for simple things each time I need a form. For instance, including the "Show HTML" as a default option on every new form - for the rare cases where I DON'T want the form to display I could then do the research to learn that the secret is to remove that element.
I have to guess many who start with v4 abandon the component when they get the blank white screen with their first "hello world" form.
Apologies for my frustration level - this just feels too much like the Office 2007 "ribbon" UI where I became instantly unproductive via an "upgrade".
I have been a long time V3 user.
The one feature that caused me to consider V4 was the ability to assign a different value than the display data on a checkbox. I know there are many other benefits - but it is useful background to know that for me, this one point feature drove the need to consider the learning curve of v4 (which I was expecting some learning curve).
I thought v4 would be an awesome upgrade so I spent more than half a day checking it out.
Immediately the following items which were simple in v3 became hair-pullers in v4:
*) Needing to add "Show HTML" to the event tab. Could have cost me many hours figuring out what was wrong with my installation. Was frustrating to have to hit forums and videos to get out the most basic "hello world" form.
*) No ability to create text labels and headings. I really like that v3 is self contained - does not need me to create a content page to do a complete form solution. Eventually saw a recommendation to use a "Custom Code" element - but this is not only counter intuitive, but the results are much less desirable than v3's built-in elements.
*) The inability to specify "Label Width" in v4 means that my form fields and labels crunch together and look very amateur.
Overall it feels like there is a understanding gap that most of us don't do a ton of forms on a daily or monthly basis. For my site, I need a form and spend an intense couple of days doing it and then will go months and months - sometimes more than a year - before needing another form or to make updates to an existing one. The product needs to make sure that the most basic tasks are discoverable and/or done for me - both to create a good "First Use" experiences and so that I don't have to pound forums for simple things each time I need a form. For instance, including the "Show HTML" as a default option on every new form - for the rare cases where I DON'T want the form to display I could then do the research to learn that the secret is to remove that element.
I have to guess many who start with v4 abandon the component when they get the blank white screen with their first "hello world" form.
Apologies for my frustration level - this just feels too much like the Office 2007 "ribbon" UI where I became instantly unproductive via an "upgrade".
Hello,
I agree with you that it has a learning curve, some stuff is not easy to figure out at the first glance, but we have the easy wizard mode, which solves most of the users problems, the huge list of actions gives you more power than any other form builder in the Joomla market today.
#2- You can add headers using the "Formatted text" element.
#3- You can use a "Form Styler" action, it should help you configure labels widths.
We appreciate your suggestions, and I promise to pay attention to them when doing the next major upgrade/styling to the component🙂
Regards,
Max
I agree with you that it has a learning curve, some stuff is not easy to figure out at the first glance, but we have the easy wizard mode, which solves most of the users problems, the huge list of actions gives you more power than any other form builder in the Joomla market today.
#2- You can add headers using the "Formatted text" element.
#3- You can use a "Form Styler" action, it should help you configure labels widths.
We appreciate your suggestions, and I promise to pay attention to them when doing the next major upgrade/styling to the component🙂
Regards,
Max
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