[BUG] Continued issues with form styling in updates after 3.0.0 --> Conflict with Formidable Forms plugin

[dghweb]

Describe the bug

We (at Global Health) are continuously experiencing style conflicts with the UW theme and the Formidable plugin. Since we cannot simply switch to a different form plugin this is a major issue. I keep rolling back the theme to version 3.0.0 which was the last version that did not have any apparent issues. But this is not sustainable of course.

Below are some screen shots (from colleagues that need to work with our forms) that clearly show how it messed up radio's and check boxes. I wish we could simply turn off any form related styling that's build in the theme. But as it stands it looks like I'll have to undo all the UW styling through either a child-theme or custom plugin.

My apologies that this issue description is more like a rant.

Screenshots

[dghweb]

As a follow-up and sidebar. Is there a specific forms plugin that UW Web team recommends using that is compatible with the theme? @uwdevteam

[bjvogt]

Following this with interest and trepidation. I have also run into form formatting collisions using the W theme and Gravity Forms plugin. They were severe enough that I've resorted to serving complex forms in a WP default theme like twentytwenty to evade this collision.

[lcaple]

Hi all, unfortunately our team doesn't leverage Formidable or Gravity Forms so this is not a bug we have come across when working with forms and the theme. My guess is there's a conflict with these third party plugins and our designs.

We can add looking into this to our backlog, but I can't guarantee when we'll be able to release a fix. If it's breaking functionality on your sites, I recommend implementing CSS fixes in a child theme to remove our custom form CSS.

As a follow-up and sidebar. Is there a specific forms plugin that UW Web team recommends using that is compatible with the theme? @uwdevteam

Edit to add, our team manages www.washington.edu and because of the needs of those 200 sites to be stable and secure, we don't support a ton of popular WordPress plugins. We run veeery simple and basic forms or ask folks to use third party embeds. So we run vanilla Contact Form 7 without bells and whistles. We also do our development and testing on vanilla HTML forms.

[dghweb]

Following this with interest and trepidation. I have also run into form formatting collisions using the W theme and Gravity Forms plugin. They were severe enough that I've resorted to serving complex forms in a WP default theme like twentytwenty to evade this collision.

Hi Brian, thanks for confirming that Gravity Forms is not a viable alternative. And even though I don't like to have to resort to workarounds, I don't mind the idea of serving more complex forms outside the W theme. This option sounds more appealing and manageable than sleuthing through the UW's CSS and undoing all the styling from the parent UW theme. But I'll have to look at both options on a per case basis.

-Jasper