Donation Form - Online Express

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Adam Eggert
Adam Eggert ✭
Eighth Anniversary Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
Is there any options that Blackbaud offers to make the donation form more customizable?  The forms themselves do not allow for lots of layout changes...ex. adding graphics, changing layout design, etc.


Thanks,


Adam Eggert

Horizon Health Foundation
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Comments

  • Chris Martin
    Chris Martin ✭
    Ancient Membership Facilitator 2 Photogenic
    Hi Adam Eggert‍. It may be helpful to know that when an OLX form renders on one of your organization's web pages, it's composed of plain old HTML page elements and the look, feel and behavior respects CSS and Javascript just like any other content on your website. So whoever manages the look and feel of your website can absolutely modify the look and feel of OLX forms to the extent their expertise allows.


    We considered but never formally introduced the concept of adding images inline/within OLX web forms. The primary reason for this is that at the end of the day, OLX forms are just page elements and most website platforms make it pretty easy to add additional content to your pages (e.g. supplemental text, images, or other content around the OLX form). 


    Within the OLX form editor itself, you do have control over things like fonts, colors and some basic button layout options. If you wanted to do more extensive styling but without changing the overall flow of the form, some simple CSS rules applied via your website would be appropriate. And if you wanted more extensive changes like dynamically showing/hiding fields, changing the flow of the form, etc., that would all need to be done using Javascript (and you'd want to be thorough in testing and periodically reviewing your form's behavior to be sure your customization always meets your expectations).


    Thanks,

    Chris Martin

    Blackbaud Product Management
  • Alexandra Spurgeon
    Alexandra Spurgeon ✭
    Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper First Reply

    @Chris Martin Hi, I know this is an old thread so I'm hoping you can still help me! We launch a new website 18 months ago with every intention of integrating our RE database, so that donations, mailing list sign ups etc could all be automated. However, our developers haven't managed to integrate for whatever reason, and we now need to look for another solution. We had linked Online Express to our old website, which worked perfectly from a back office POV but we felt that the customer facing side of the form could have looked/performed better. From your response here, I can see that it's a case of someone having the skills required to be able to make the form look/work better for your individual charity. We don't have those skills in-house and our external developers are reluctant to help us, so I wondered if there are RE / OLX specialists within Blackbaud, who we can hire to support us with such a project? And if so, how can I get in touch with them please?

  • Alex Wong
    Alex Wong ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 4 Name Dropper Photogenic

    @Alexandra Spurgeon
    you can do quite a bit in OLX directly, but at the end the form is an embed (true embed) that allows for customizable CSS and Javascript, and that requires a “real” web developer (not someone who only knows how to use WordPress or other CMS)

    If you want to use Blackbaud resource, reach out to your account manager or customer success manager if you have one.

    But I think you will be better off getting a freelance web developer

  • Alexandra Spurgeon
    Alexandra Spurgeon ✭
    Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper First Reply

    @Alex Wong Thank you, I thought it must be the case that you can do more with the OLX form if you have the right skillset but unfortunately we don't have those skills in-house. I have contacted our account manager already, so I'm just awaiting a response - in the meantime I thought I'd reach out to the community. Thanks for your help

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