We have featured Niceforms v1.0 long time ago. It is a script that will replace the most commonly used form elements with custom designed ones. And it looks very pretty as well. However, there were some limitations and minor bugs. I am always hoping for a new version.
Finally! After what seemed like an eternity, the fully revamped version of Niceforms is ready to make its debut. Pretty much everything is new, from the basic coding approach, to the number of elements it handles, to the customization options. Niceforms v2.0 fully supports all modern browsers, with the exception of IE6, in which case it degrades gracefully to the original form.
You can customize the look of your forms in any way you want by creating your own themes. Since Niceforms replaces the form elements with images, it’s just a matter of slicing these images up correctly and creating the CSS that holds them all together. More themes are on the way as well.
Requirements: IE7+, Firefox2+, Safari3+, Opera9+, Chrome0.3+, Mozilla1.5+, Camino1.6+
Demo: http://www.emblematiq.com/niceforms/v20/niceforms.html
License: License Free




Pity it doesn’t work in IE6. They seemingly made no effort whatsoever to get it working either, presumably on philosophical grounds.
The idea is sound, though — surprised I’ve never really thought of it! Might see if I can jQuery up with something that does work in IE6 at some point.
On their support page they specifically state why they don’t support IE6.
I agree though, a jQuery alternative that includes IE6 would be excellent.
they claim that it will work on FF2+ but radio buttons and checkboxes are floating above their label.
beside that still a great concept
Let the forms as they are in the browser. It is not like the user will be more productive with custom forms.
Andy, by that logic we should structure our sites with nothing more than the physical layout (floated columns, etc) and basic formatting (unstyled CSS).
What separates designers from developers is that they understand the value of a good user experience. Nobody understands this better than Apple’s designers, to use an obvious example.
A nice form can be appropriate and improve the feel of the site significantly — particularly if that form happens to be a prominent part of the design (eg: in the header). As long as the designer does his job well and the form remains intuitive and just as accessible as its unstyled counterpart, there’s no problem.
if I remember correctly, I think there’s a jQuery version of this already…
Hmm, let me find the link again.
and I agree that we should just let the form look the way they are…
Here’s a jQuery port of an old version of niceforms …
http://www.codemassacre.com/2008/01/18/updated-jquery-niceforms/
Ryan, I don’t think you speak for all developers anymore than you speak for designers. Both can appreciate the value of a good user experience. A pretty form doesn’t necessarily mean a better experience. I also don’t think that Andy meant leaving forms unstyled was the way to go. I think the argument is how does Niceforms improve the user experience over standard widgets. Please do tell.
I’m using this library and I have into my forms files input, so I wanted to know if there is a version of this library that supports them, let me know if there is.
thx
Ryan,
What I’m saying is that using these workarounds will make your project hard to maintain. I agree that some times the forms are the ugly side of an application, but it is not all about the look.
When you create a UI you must consider: maintainability, performance as well as the visual side.
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