How to Create a WordPress Form With a Date Picker

Do you need people to pick a date when they fill in a form on your website?

Perhaps you want to know a good time to call them, or maybe you want to gather information such as date of birth, etc. That’s where a date picker field can help.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create a WordPress form with a date picker.

Creating a WordPress Form With a Date Picker

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the WPForms. It’s one of the best contact form plugins out there, and you can use it for all sorts of different forms.

You’ll need to install and active the WPForms plugin on your site. If you’re not sure how to do that, take a look at our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once you’ve activated the plugin, go to WPForms » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

The WPForms builder will appear. First, type in a name for your form. Then, hover your mouse cursor over a template and click the button to select it. We’re going to use the Simple Contact Form template.

WPForms will automatically create a form for you using that template. Here’s the default simple contact form.

You can now edit the form in any way you like.

Let’s add the date picker field.

In the form builder, you’ll see all the fields that you can add to your form in the right column. Scroll down to the Fancy Fields section, and you will see the Date / Time field.

Drag and drop the field to where you want it on your form. We’ve placed it just below the Email field on our form.

Next, click on the field to edit it. This will bring up the ‘Field Options’ tab on the left hand side of your screen.

You can change the label of the field, which defaults to ‘Date / Time’. We’re going to use ‘Preferred Time for Phone Call’ for our field.

You can also change the format of the field using the Format dropdown. For instance, you might want to use just a date and no time, such as for a date of birth field.

You can also check the Required box if you want to make this a mandatory field. This means the user will have to select a date and time before they can submit the form.

You can add any other new fields that you want to use, too. Just click the ‘Add Fields’ tab then drag and drop the field onto your field. To edit a field, simply click on it.

Setting Advanced Options for your Date Picker

By default, the date picker on your form will be a calendar with a time dropdown next to it. The user simply clicks on a day to select that date.

The time dropdown defaults to a 12 hour clock with 30 minute intervals, like this:

You might want to change how the date picker works. That’s easy to do in WPForms. In the Field Options tab, scroll down to Advanced Options.

Next, click the arrow to open up that section.

Here, you can make lots of changes. For instance, you might want to change the date format. The default is mm/dd/yyyy.

You can also switch from the date picker to a date dropdown, if you prefer. In this case, the user selects the month, day, and year from dropdown boxes, like this:

You can also change the time picker. It defaults to a 12 hour clock, but you can switch this to a 24 hour clock if you prefer. You can also change the intervals to 15 minutes or 1 hour instead of 30 minutes.

Once you’re happy with your form, you can save it by clicking the Save button on the top right.

You may also want to set up your form so that the person completing the form gets a copy of the details they submitted.

This could be helpful, for example, if they’re scheduling a call with you. They’ll have an email record of the call time they booked.

You can do that by following the instructions in our tutorial on creating a contact form with multiple recipients.

Adding Your Form to Your Website

You can either add your form to an existing page (or post) on your site, or you can create a new one. To create a new page, go to Pages » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

You’ll then need to add a new block to your page. Click on the (+) to add the block then select the WPForms block. You can find it in the Widgets section or you can search for it using the search bar.

Next, you’ll need to select your form from the WPForms dropdown, like this:

That’s all you need to do. You can now publish your page and your form will be live on your website. It should look something like this:

Note: The styling of the form will depend on the WordPress theme you’re using.

All forms created with WPForms are mobile-friendly out of the box and will work on any mobile devices. WPForms date-picker tool is also mobile-friendly and works on all screen sizes.

It’s always a good idea to test out your form to make sure it’s working as you expected. If you aren’t getting emails but you’re sure your notification settings are correct, our article on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue should help.

You can make changes to your form by going to WPForms » All Forms. Then, just click on the title of your form or the Edit link beneath the title to edit it.

Once you save your form, it’ll be updated on your website automatically.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a WordPress form with a datepicker. You might also want to take a look at our articles on how to block contact form spam in WordPress and how to track and reduce form abandonment in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a WordPress Form With a Date Picker appeared first on WPBeginner.

May 27, 2020 at 05:00PM

How to Disable Automatic Updates in WordPress

Did you know that WordPress can automatically update your website? In some cases, that can include plugins and themes too.

Despite the security benefits, there is a slight chance that these background updates can break your website.

In this article, we will show you how to disable automatic updates in WordPress, so you can manually update on your own.

Why WordPress Updates Automatically

WordPress automatically updates the core WordPress software for security reasons.

Sometimes, it may also update a plugin or theme to fix a potential threat. For instance, a WordPress plugin or theme might be updated to remove a critical vulnerability. If that plugin or theme is used by a lot of websites, WordPress core team may push out an automatic update for that.

Apart from those situations, WordPress lets you decide when you want to install updates.

We don’t recommend turning off automatic WordPress updates. They’re an important security feature.

However, in some rare situations, updates can break your website or affect its functionality. This could lead to you losing business and customers.

If you’re confident that you can manage manual updates yourself, then you can safely disable automatic updates in WordPress.

Configuring and Disabling Automatic WordPress Updates

The easiest way to do this is by installing and activating the Easy Updates Manager plugin. If you’re not sure how to do that, take a look at our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once the plugin is activated, go to Dashboard » Updates Options to configure your settings.

You can choose to ‘Disable all updates’, but we don’t recommend this option. Primarily because it’ll prevent all update notifications from appearing.

Instead, you should pick the settings you want. You could disable plugin and theme auto-updates, but leave the standard core WordPress auto-updates enabled.

Note: If you choose ‘Disable plugin updates’ and ‘Disable theme updates’ instead of ‘Disable auto updates’, then you won’t even see the update notifications in your plugins and themes lists.

Easy Updates Manager keeps a log of what’s updated, so if anything does break on your site, you can rollback to a previous working version. To view this, go to Dashboard » Updates Options and then click the ‘Logs’ tab.

There’s also a premium version of Easy Updates Manager, which offers a lot of extra options. For instance, it integrates with UpdraftPlus so that you can automatically run a backup of your site before updates are applied.

Disabling Automatic WordPress Updates Without Using a Plugin

What if you don’t want to use a plugin? You can disable automatic updates in WordPress by adding this line of code in your wp-config.php file:

define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', false );

This will disable all automatic WordPress updates.

Important: Make sure you read our article on how to safely edit the wp-config.php file in WordPress with step by step instructions.

If you want to receive minor core updates, but disable theme and plugin updates, you can do so by adding the following filters in your theme’s functions.php file or in a site-specific plugin.

Disable automatic WordPress plugin updates:

add_filter( 'auto_update_plugin', '__return_false' );

Disable automatic WordPress theme updates:

add_filter( 'auto_update_theme', '__return_false' );

Pros and Cons of Automatic WordPress Updates

Now you know how to disable automatic updates, but should you disable them? There’s no right answer and this depends on you and your website.

On our sites, we’ve disabled automatic plugin and theme updates while keeping the minor core updates enabled.

Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of automatic updates. That way, you can decide whether to disable auto-updates on your site.

Advantages of Automatic Updates in WordPress

Automatic updates are great for WordPress security. Many users forget to update their plugins or their core WordPress installation.

With automatic WordPress updates enabled, you don’t have to worry about updating your site whenever a minor update to WordPress is released. These are pushed out for maintenance and security purposes.

In the past, automatic updates were something you only got by paying for managed WordPress hosting. Now, they’re available for everyone (at least for minor releases).

You also know that if there’s a crucial security issue with WordPress or a popular plugin, then WordPress will automatically update. Even if you’re busy or away from home, your site will stay secure.

If you have a lot of sites, then automatic updates can save you quite a bit of time. And even if you only have one site, you might prefer the peace of mind of knowing that WordPress is taking care of things.

Disadvantages of Automatic Updates in WordPress

The core WordPress team responsible for releasing updates, makes sure that it goes without a hiccup.

However, there is a slight chance that automatic updates can break your site. In our experience, the minor releases haven’t broken any of our sites yet.

That’s because we are following the best practices and not modifying any core files. If you modify WordPress core files, then these automatic updates can override them.

If WordPress ever felt it necessary to push out a security update for a theme you are using, there is a chance that it will break your website. This particularly applies if you have modified your theme files.

Automatic plugin updates can potentially break your site as well. There are just too many variables, such as different server environments and plugin combinations.

Now it’s important to know that these updates will not break the vast majority of websites. Even so, you may feel you don’t want to take the risk.

Another drawback is that you won’t always automatically get a notification when your site is updated.

Should I Disable Automatic WordPress Updates?

Basically, it is up to you to make this decision.

For most beginners and vast majority of WordPress websites, automatic updates are harmless, and you should not disable them.

However, if you run an online store or don’t want to lose business due to a broken site, then you can safely turn off automatic updates.

Still, make sure that you manually install those updates in a timely manner to ensure your website’s security.

We hope this article helped you learn how to disable automatic updates in WordPress.

Whether you’re using automatic or manual updates, it’s crucial to make sure you have regular backups of your site. Take a look at our comparison of the best WordPress backup plugins and our guide on how to restore your WordPress site from a backup.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Disable Automatic Updates in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

May 26, 2020 at 05:00PM

How to Change the Text Color in WordPress (3 Easy Methods)

Recently, one of our readers asked if there was an easy way to change the text color in WordPress?

The answer is yes. You can easily change your font color in WordPress across your whole site, or even just for a single word inside your post content.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily change the text color in WordPress, step by step.

There are lots of reasons why you might want to change the text color in your posts or pages. Maybe you’d like to emphasize a keyword, or perhaps you want to use colored subheadings on a particular page.

Alternatively, you might want to change the text color across your whole site. Perhaps your theme uses a gray color for text, but you’d rather make it black, or a darker gray, for better readability.

In this tutorial, we’ll be covering the following methods:

• Changing the text color using the visual editor (great for changing a few words, a paragraph, or a heading when writing content).
• Changing the text color in the theme customizer (the best way to change font colors across your whole site, but not supported by all themes).
• Changing the text color using CSS code (suitable for changing the font color across your whole site with any themes).

Just click one of those links to jump straight to that method.

Method 1. Changing the Text Color Using the Visual Editor

You can use the default WordPress editor to put words, paragraphs, or even subheadings in a different color from your main text.

Here’s how you can change your text color using the block editor.

First, you’ll need to edit the post or page that you want to change, or create a new one.

Next, type in your text. You’ll need to create a paragraph block or a heading block as appropriate. For help with this, take a look at our tutorial on how to use the WordPress block editor.

Once your text is in place, you can change the color.

Changing the Text Color of a Block

For this first example, we’re going to change the text color of the whole block.

Simply click on the block and the Block Settings panel should open up on the right hand side of your screen. Next, click on the arrow for ‘Color settings’ to expand that tab. You’ll see the text color settings here.

Now, you can pick a new color for the text. The visual editor will show you some options based on your theme. You can simply click on one of these to change your text color.

Alternatively, if you have a specific color in mind, click the ‘Custom Color’ link. This will open up a color picker where you can manually select a color. You can also use this to type in a hex code.

If you change your mind and want to go back to the default text color, just click the ‘Clear’ button below the color options:

Pro Tip: If you want to change the background color for a block, you can do that here too.

Changing the Text Color of a Word or Phrase

What if you only want to change the color of one or two words? That’s easy using the block editor as well.

First, you’ll need to highlight the word(s) that you want to change. Then, click the small downward arrow on the content editor toolbar.

Next, simply click on the ‘Text Color’ link at the bottom of the dropdown list:

You’ll now see the same color options as for the whole block. Again, you can pick from one of the default options or use the ‘Custom color’ link to select any color you want.

The color options aren’t limited to paragraph blocks. You can also change the text color of heading blocks. As with paragraph blocks, you can set text color for the whole block in the block settings. Alternatively, you can highlight individual words and change their color.

Note: You cannot set a background color for heading blocks.

You can also change the text color in a list block, but only by highlighting the word(s) and using the toolbar. There’s no option in the block settings to change the text color for the whole of a list block.

Changing the Font Color Using the Classic Editor

If you’re still using the classic WordPress editor, then you can change the font color using the toolbar.

In the classic editor, click on the Toolbar Toggle on the far right. You’ll then see a second row of icons:

Now, you can select your text and change the font color using the font color dropdown.

Method 2. Changing the Text Color in the Theme Customizer

What if you want to change the text color across your whole website? Many of the best WordPress themes will allow you to do this using the theme customizer.

For this example, we’re using the OceanWP theme. It’s one of the top free themes available for WordPress.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Customize to open up the Theme Customizer.

Next, you need to look for an option such as ‘Typography’. The available options, and what they’re called, will vary depending on your theme.

Let’s go ahead and click on the Typography tab, or an equivalent option. Next, look for a setting where you can change the text of your posts and pages. In OceanWP, this is called the ‘Body’ text. You need to click on this, so you’ll can customize the font color and more.

When you click on the Font Color selector, you’ll see a color picker. Choose whatever color you want to use for your text. This will change the text color in all your posts and pages.

You can also change your heading colors in a similar way, by using the options to change H1, H2, and so on.

Once you’re happy with your changes, click the ‘Publish’ button at the top of the screen.

Tip: Choosing black or dark gray text on a white or very light background is usually best for readability.

Method 3. Changing the Text Color Using CSS Code

What if your theme doesn’t have the option to change the text color?

You can still change font color across a whole site by using the theme customizer. Go to Appearance » Customizer in the WordPress dashboard.

At the bottom of the list of options, you’ll see a tab that reads ‘Additional CSS’.

Next, click on the Additional CSS tab, and you’ll see some instructions plus a box where you can enter CSS code.

For starters, you can copy this code into the box. After that, you can change the 6 numbers to the hex code of your chosen color.

p { color:#990000; }

This will change the font color of the regular text in all your posts and pages to dark red (or whatever color you chose), like this:

If you want to change the color of the headings within your post, you can add this code instead:

h2 { color:#990000; }

Again, change the hex code to whatever color you want.

If you’re not familiar with CSS or want a beginner-friendly CSS editor that lets you easily customize the entire styles of your website, then we recommend looking into CSS Hero. It’s a powerful visual editor that lets you customize the styles of your entire site.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to change the text color in WordPress. You might also like our tutorials on how to change the font size in WordPress, and how to add custom fonts in WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Change the Text Color in WordPress (3 Easy Methods) appeared first on WPBeginner.

May 25, 2020 at 05:00PM

7 Best Tip Jar Plugins for WordPress

Do you want to collect donations on your WordPress website? Tip jar plugins are an easy way for both non-profits and content creators to make money from their site.

They make it easy for your users to give you a donation if they like your content or what you’re offering.

In this article, we’ll share the best tip jar plugins for WordPress (with their pros and cons).

Why Use a Tip Jar on Your Website?

A virtual tip jar is pretty similar to a real tip jar. It’s a means for your audience to give you a few dollars as a “thank you” for your work.

There are lots of reasons why you might use one. Perhaps:

• You’re a musician, artist, or writer. You share your work freely online, but you’d like some extra funding.
• You create free software. You want to give your users a chance to support you, so you can keep providing the software for free.
• You run a virtual class online that you don’t charge for. Donations would help you keep it going.
• You simply want to experiment with a tip jar as a way to make money online from your blog.

Tip jars are mini donation forms. They’re often placed in the sidebar of a website, making them easily visible.

You want your tip jar to be as simple as possible. That way, people will be more likely to use it.

Using the right tip jar plugin for your needs is crucial because some of these plugins can offer other useful functionalities based on your needs.

Note: Some tip jar plugins will require you to use an SSL certificate. We strongly recommend this regardless of whether it’s required or not. If you don’t yet have an SSL certificate, our tutorial on how to get a free SSL certificate takes you step by step through the process of getting one.

With that said, let’s take a look at the best tip jar plugins for WordPress.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best forms plugin for WordPress. You can use it to create a tip jar and customize your form to match your brand needs.

WPForms has a very beginner-friendly interface. Plus, you can use the WPForms Donation Form template to quickly create your tip jar.

It supports Stripe and PayPal to accept donations on your website. You can use it to accept one-time or recurring donations. You can also add the tip jar anywhere on your website including standalone pages, sidebars, footer area, and more.

WPForms makes it easy to offer something in return for donations, too. If you’re a musician, then you can offer an exclusive recording that isn’t available publicly. If you’re a software designer, then you can give access to the beta version of a new software.

To offer your freebie, you can integrate your donations form with your email marketing service. This lets you set up an autoresponder to thank people for their donation and supply them with a freebie.

Tip: WPForms isn’t just for tip jars. You can use WPForms for all kinds of forms, such as your contact form or a survey form.

Due to it’s multi-purpose, we have WPForms as the #1 provider in the list.

Pricing

WPForms has a limited free version, and their premium plans start at $39. For the donation options, you’ll need the Pro plan which costs $199 using our exclusive WPForms coupon.

If you’re a non-profit, then you can get an additional discount through the WPForms Care program which offers special pricing on WordPress forms for non-profits.

2. GiveWP

GiveWP, also known as Give, is a fantastic, fully-featured donations plugin for WordPress. It’s one of the best plugins for nonprofits, but you can also use it for yourself or your for-profit business.

There are loads of different options with GiveWP. For example, you can allow donors to donate in their own currency. You can also accept recurring donations.

You can also create goals to fundraise up to a certain point. This could work really well if you’re offering your audience something new once you reach your goal.

For instance, if you’re a nonfiction author, you might promise to release a chapter of your upcoming book for free once you reach $1,000 in donations.

GiveWP can be connected to a whole range of payment gateways. These include Stripe, Authorize.net, PayPal, 2Checkout, Braintree, Mollie, Paytm, PayFast, Square, AmeriCloud, Paymill, and many more.

With GiveWP, you can install lots of different add-ons to give you extra features. You get all the basic addons with the Basic plan. The premium addons are available with the Plus and Pro plans.

It’s easy to get started with GiveWP. As soon as you install and activate it, you’ll be taken through the quick start guide.

GiveWP lets you customize your donation forms. If having full control over your donation form is a crucial feature for you, though, then WP Forms might be a better fit. We’ll take a look at that plugin in a moment.

Pricing

GiveWP has a limited free version. Paid plans start from $240/year and the Plus version gives you access to all addons for $360/year.

3. PayPal Donations

PayPal Donations is a simple plugin that lets you take donations through PayPal. It’s very easy to set up. You can create a tip jar and add it to your sidebar or footer using the PayPal Donations widget.

If you want to add a tip jar quickly, this might be the plugin for you. It’s also free, which could be a big advantage if you’re not expecting to get many donations.

You can choose the currency that you want to use for the tips. You can also set a default amount for donations, if you want to. The plugin lets you enter a “thank you” page URL for your donor to go to after donating.

You can create a custom button or just use one of the built-in PayPal buttons.

If you want some help getting your tip jar set up, check out our guide on how to add a PayPal donate button in WordPress.

As you might expect from the name, the PayPal Donations plugin only takes donations through PayPal. If you want more options for your tip jar, you’ll need a different plugin.

It’s not the most richly featured plugin out there. However, PayPal donations is well worth a look if you want to keep things as simple as possible.

Pricing

PayPal Donations is a free plugin.

4. Tip Jar WP

Tip Jar WP is a relatively new plugin, first released in July 2019. While it doesn’t have the full functionality of premium plugins like GiveWP and WPForms, it’s very well geared up for creating tip jars.

Tip Jar WP is designed to make the donation process as seamless as possible for your donors. It’s also easy for you to use, as there’s a simple guided setup process.

The default form is nicely designed and easy to use You can put it anywhere, such as in your sidebar or footer.

You can add your form to a page or post using WordPress’s block editor or you can put it in your sidebar using a shortcode. Plus, it works with all WordPress page builders too. The responsive design means it’ll look good on mobile devices as well.

You can use Tip Jar WP to take recurring payments, such as a donation every week or month. It offers multiple currencies so that donors can use their own currency.

You can take payments by credit card. Cleverly, the tip jar form can also tell whether your user’s device supports Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Microsoft Pay. It’ll show them the appropriate option if so.

One drawback, though, is that Tip Jar WP doesn’t integrate with PayPal. You may find, though, that your users are happy to pay through credit card or the supported mobile device methods.

Pricing

Tip Jar WP is a free plugin. It takes 1% of your donations as a transaction fee, though. If you receive a high number of donations, that could mean that a different plugin will work out more cost-effective.

5. Buy Me a Coffee

The Buy Me a Coffee plugin is provided by the online platform Buy Me a Coffee. You’ll need to create an account in order to use it, which is free.

Your fans can use PayPal, a credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or other methods to send you a donation. Buy Me a Coffee lets you take both one-off and recurring donations. You can also use it to reward donors with exclusive content or even to sell digital products.

The Buy Me a Coffee widget looks great out of the box. It’s also easy to customize: you can change the color with a single click in your WordPress dashboard. You can also change the text.

You can’t alter the donation amounts, though. Your supporters can pay in multiples of $3.

Note: A bit confusingly, what Buy Me a Coffee calls their “widget” isn’t a WordPress widget that you add to your sidebar. Instead, once you activate it, it’ll appear on the bottom right of all your website’s pages as a little coffee cup that expands when clicked.

However, you can also add a button to your sidebar, using the Buy Me a Coffee WordPress widget in Appearance » Widgets.

One drawback is that there isn’t much documentation for the WordPress plugin (as opposed to the online platform). Also, some users reported having difficulties accessing support.

Pricing

Buy Me a Coffee is free, but it takes a 5% transaction fee on all your donations. This could be worth it if you’re keen to use all of the online platform’s features.

6. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is another good option for creating a tip jar.

While Formidable Forms is a great forms plugin, it isn’t quite so beginner-friendly as WPForms. It’s more geared up for developers and experienced WordPress users.

You can certainly use it for your tip jar though. The easiest way to do so is to use the “PayPal Donation” template, a pre-built form that you can customize however you want.

If you want to do something complicated or unusual with your tip jar, Formidable Forms might be the best option for you. It offers a lot of power and flexibility. As with WPForms, you can use it to create lots of other types of forms too.

Pricing

Formidable Forms costs from $149/year. To use PayPal, though, you’ll need a Business license (from $299/year). They offer a 14-day money-back guarantee.

There’s also a limited free version available.

7. Cryptocurrency Donation Box

Cryptocurrency Donation Box is a specialized tip jar plugin. It lets you accept donations from over 20 different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more.

It’s simple to set up: you just enter your cryptocurrency wallet addresses inside the plugin. There’s also a QR code option so that your supporters can scan the QR code instead of copying the address, if they prefer.

If you want to take donations in cryptocurrency then it’s a great option to try. It only works with cryptocurrencies, though. This means it’s not much help if you want dollars (or your own local currency) instead.

Pricing

Cryptocurrency Donation Box is a free plugin.

Which is the Best WordPress Tip Jar Plugin?

Any of these plugins could be a great option for your tip jar. The best one for you will depend on what you need.

For an easy donations form that you can put anywhere on your site, WPForms is a great choice. It’s especially good if you also want to create a contact form, or if you want to add surveys & polls on your site.

If you need advanced features like the ability to manage and contact donors, then GiveWP is a very robust option. It’s really well geared up for nonprofits and charitable organizations, too.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best tip jar plugins for WordPress. You might also like to take a look at our list of the must have WordPress plugins for all sites and our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to boost your rankings.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Tip Jar Plugins for WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

May 22, 2020 at 03:30PM