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Using Expression Web to Build Contact Forms

Microsoft Expression Web is an HTML authoring tool that is part of the Microsoft Expression Suite of software. Using Microsoft Expression Web to add an email form to your website is very easy. The steps for doing so are outlined below. Please note that this tutorial was created using Microsoft Expression Web 2. The procedure may vary slightly if you are using a different version.

1. Create Your Form HTML

To get started, first generate some form HTML code using a free email form service such as myContactForm.com. If you are not familiar with myContactForm.com, you can read our tutorial here.

2. Open Expression Web

Start Microsoft Expression Web as you would normally do.

3. Create or Open the Page Where You Want the Form

a. To create a new page, go to File > New > Page (or press CTRL+N).

b. To open the page where you want the form, go to File > Open (or press CTRL+O).

4. Add the Form HTML to Your File

a. Using your mouse, move your cursor to the spot on the page where you would like the form.

b. Click the button or select View > Page > Code to enter the Code View.

c. Once in the Code View, verify that the cursor is located at the spot within the HTML code that you would like to insert your email form.

d. Paste the form HTML into the code (Edit > Paste, or CTRL+V, or Right Click and Select Paste). If you do not have your form code created and copied, please read this tutorial to learn how to do so.

e. Click the button or select View > Page > Design to enter the Design View.

f. Verify that the form looks correct in the Design View

5. Save Your Form

a. Select File > Save (or CTRL+S).

6. Upload Your Form

Upload the file containing your form to your web server. This procedure will vary depending on whether you are using an external FTP client or Expression's built-in client.

7. Test Your Form

Open a web browser and go to the web page containing your form. Fill out the form and press the submit button to test it.

A demonstration form created using Microsoft Expression Web can be seen here.

Common Problems Encountered by Users:

The web page is showing a bunch of jumbled HTML instead of a form.

When this occurs, it is a result of the form HTML being pasted into the Design View of your web page. You need to make sure to paste your form HTML into the Code View for your web page. To access the Code View click the button or select View > Page > Code.

I submit the form and get a form location error.

If you are using myContactForm.com, you will need to login and make sure that you've set the Form Location setting to the proper URL for your form.

a. Login to myContactForm.com

b. Click the Edit Button

c. Click the Basic Form Information Button

d. Enter all variations of the URL where the form will appear. Typically this is the full URL of your web form with and without the www subdomain. You can also use wildcards (*) in this setting. For examples using http://www.mydomain.com/* would allow the form to be placed on any page uploaded to mydomain.com.

e. Click