A Simple Guide to Styling Gravity Forms

1. Why should you style your Gravity Forms?
2. How do you style Gravity Forms?
   1. Method 1: Using the Gravity Forms Editor
      1. Add multi-column form layouts
      2. Adjust the appearance of individual form fields
   2. Method 2: Using Form Themes
   3. Method 3: Using custom CSS
3. Tips for further Gravity Forms customization
   1. Gravity Forms Page Transitions
   2. Gravity Forms Nested Forms
   3. Gravity Forms File Upload Pro
4. Style Gravity Forms with ease

Let’s talk styling Gravity Forms. The default styles available in Gravity Forms do a great job of adapting to your chosen WordPress theme, but sometimes, we need more. And that’s probably why you’re here. The process of styling Gravity Forms can seen daunting at first, as there’s a plethora of options available.

So, in this article, we will guide you through the ins and outs of Gravity Forms CSS styling, helping you create visually appealing and functional forms tailored to your site’s unique needs.

We’ll cover three ways to style Gravity Forms, then look at a few plugins that can take your forms even further.

Why should you style your Gravity Forms?

Gravity Forms does a great job of inheriting your theme’s default styles. This means, in most cases, your forms should fit right into your existing theme. 

With that said, there is room to make your forms shine even brighter. Gravity Forms’ styles are focused on being functional to ensure to ensure they can serve the largest possible audience out of the box. Unfortunately, that means that sometimes they can feel a little… vanilla.

You may find yourself wanting to spice your form styles up to better fit your brand, enhance the user experience, or improve conversations. Let me elaborate a bit more on those benefits.

• Brand alignment: Customizing forms to align with your brand identity creates a cohesive appearance, building trust and loyalty among your audience. Consistent branding looks professional and reinforces your brand identity, making it easily recognizable and memorable.
• Improved user experience: A well-designed form improves user experience by being intuitive, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. Small adjustments, such as organizing options into columns or aligning form labels differently, streamline the form-filling process. Responsive design also ensures accessibility on various devices, further enhancing user experience.
• Improved conversions: Improved form design and layout can increase the likelihood of users completing forms, boosting conversion rates. Quicker form completion also helps reduce abandonment rates as it can minimize user frustration. You can also optimize CTA (call-to-action) buttons for visibility, encouraging more users to fill in your forms.

As you can infer, customizing your forms is a proven tactic to create a seamless, professional, and memorable experience for your customers while maximizing the effectiveness of your online forms.

How do you style Gravity Forms?

Now that we’ve established the importance of styling your forms, it’s time to explore the various methods available to customize their layout and appearance. 

While there are third-party tools that can further enhance your forms, it’s essential to understand the built-in styling options that Gravity Forms provides.

Let’s look at three ways to style your Gravity Forms, from built-in tools to custom CSS.

Method 1: Using the Gravity Forms Editor

The Gravity Forms Editor includes several built-in ways to adjust your form’s layout and appearance, without writing custom CSS.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the changes you can make using the Form Editor.

Add multi-column form layouts

You can create multi-column layouts right in the drag-and-drop form builder by dragging one field next to another.

This makes it easy to organize related fields side by side and make better use of the available space.

Adjust the appearance of individual form fields

The Form Editor also lets you adjust the appearance of individual fields. Depending on the field, you can change the field label visibility, description and sub-label placement, field size, or add a custom validation message.

You can hide field labels here too, but Gravity Forms recommends keeping them visible for accessibility.

These built-in options cover a lot of common layout and field-level tweaks without CSS. If you need more control over the overall look of the form, Form Themes or custom CSS can take you further.

Method 2: Using Form Themes

Gravity Forms’ Orbital theme lets you style your forms directly from the WordPress block editor, without writing custom CSS.

The Orbital theme includes built-in styling options for things like input colors and sizes, labels, descriptions, and buttons.

Here’s how to get started:

• Add your form: Add a Gravity Forms block to your page or post and choose the form you want to display.
• Choose Orbital: Select the block, open Form Styles, and choose Orbital under Form Theme.

From there, you can customize:

• Input styles: Change the size, border radius, background color, border color, and text color.
• Label styles: Adjust the font size and text color.
• Description styles: Change the font size and text color.
• Button styles: Customize the background and text colors of your form buttons.

Method 3: Using custom CSS

Custom CSS gives you the most control over how your form looks.

You can use it to target specific parts of a form — like fields, labels, buttons, spacing, and more — without changing everything else around them.

If you only need the CSS for a specific form, Code Chest makes this easier. It’s a free Gravity Wiz plugin that lets you add CSS directly to a form, and you can install it through Spellbook.

Open the form, go to Settings › Code Chest, then paste your CSS into the CSS setting. By default, Code Chest scopes that CSS to the current form, so those styles won’t affect your other forms.

If you’re writing your own CSS, these Gravity Forms resources are handy:

• CSS Targeting Examples
• CSS Visual Guide and Design Overview

Custom CSS gives you much more flexibility than the built-in styling options, but you may not always need it. If you can make the same change with the Form Editor or Form Themes, start there and use custom CSS when you need more control.

Tips for further Gravity Forms customization

In addition to customizing the style and appearance of your forms using Gravity Forms’ built-in editor or CSS, you can also make various visual adjustments to your forms with the help of third-party plugins. 

Here are a few of our own plugins that can greatly improve the UX of your forms. Each of these plugins is part of Gravity Perks, a suite of add-ons that help you build anything with Gravity Forms.

Gravity Forms Page Transitions

Automate your forms’ page progression and create animated transitions between pages using this perk. It allows you to improve user experience by making multi-page forms feel smoother and more engaging. 

With a few simple settings, you can create eye-catching transitions that keep users focused and encouraged to complete your forms.

Gravity Forms Nested Forms

Visually streamline the collection of repeatable data with the use of a “nested” form.

This plugin creates a tidy summary on the parent form, making it easier for users to review and edit the information they’ve provided. 

Nested Forms can simplify complex form requests, improving the overall user experience and reducing form abandonment.

Gravity Forms File Upload Pro

Improve the style and appearance of your Gravity Forms file upload fields with image previews, file icons, and a tasteful facelift. 

This plugin enhances the look of file uploads while including support for cropping, scaling, and resizing uploaded images. 

By providing users with a more visually appealing and functional file upload experience, you can encourage more successful form submissions.

While the focus should always be on answering searchers’ questions, the Gravity Wiz suite offers a variety of solutions to enhance and extend the functionality of your forms.

Style Gravity Forms with ease

Effectively styling your Gravity Forms is essential for providing a seamless user experience and boosting completion rates. 

Thankfully, numerous options are available to cater to your specific needs and preferences when it comes to customizing your forms.

As you consider your needs and the level of customization you desire for your forms, weigh the pros and cons of each method to determine the best fit. 

And for those who want more than what’s available out of the box, take a peek at what Gravity Perks can do for you.

It’s time to make your forms work for you and your business. Happy customizing!