2021 has been an action packed year for Gravity Forms, seeing one of our biggest ever product releases, alongside the launch of a new website, a brand refresh, new add-ons, and much much more!

But before we get into the nitty-gritty of 2021, and look forward to 2022, we’d like to take a minute to thank each and every one of you for your continued support of our product. Community is at the heart of all we do here at Gravity Forms, and the ongoing support of our customers, as well as the commitment of our third-party developer community, is appreciated by everyone at Gravity Forms!

In this ‘2021: A Year in Review’ article, we discuss the innovations that our product has seen this year, and where the imminent release of 2.6 is going to take it. We’ll also look at some of the many other major changes and adaptations we’ve made as a company, the reasons behind them, and how they benefit you as a customer.

Let’s jump in…

The Release of Gravity Forms 2.5

 
Gravity Forms v2.5 was the focus of all product developments for the first half of 2021. The release of 2.5 was long anticipated by our customers, and it didn’t disappoint. With new features and functionality across the board, 2.5 boasts a beautiful redesigned form editor UI, intuitive drag-and-drop column control, and a shift to accessible form building.

Gravity Forms 2.5 has been a major achievement for the Rocketgenius team, helping us to re-position ourselves as the #1 form builder for businesses and web professionals. The improvements to the form editor saw a complete overhaul of the backend user-experience, providing a slick, modern look and feel, with new streamlined ways of working.

Alongside the form editor refresh, 2.5 also had a key focus on accessibility. Providing our community with the tools to fulfill their form-building requirements is always a top priority for all of our team here at Gravity Forms, and we are delighted that with Gravity Forms 2.5 users now have the ability to easily create accessible forms that are WCAG 2.1 AA compliant.

New Anti-Spam Add-Ons

A key focus for our Product team in 2021 has been helping our customers combat spam form entries. Gravity Forms has always been ahead of the game when it comes to spam protection, with built-in features including support for Google reCAPTCHA v2 and Honeypot, as well as conditional logic on the submit button.

This year, we have released two further anti-spam add-ons…

• reCAPTCHA Add-On – With the Gravity Forms reCAPTCHA Add-On, we have added Google reCAPTCHA v3 to the toolbox of anti-spam methods that you can use to protect your forms, helping to reduce the amount of spam form entries you receive while still ensuring a user-friendly experience for your site visitors.

• Akismet Add-On – The Gravity Forms Akismet Add-On helps to send more accurate data to Akismet. In turn, Akismet checks the submissions against its global database of spam – training, identifying and filtering out malicious entries on your website.

Would you like to have a say on the future of Gravity Forms? Use the Gravity Forms Roadmap to submit a new idea or share your thoughts on other issues that you think would help make Gravity Forms an even better and more well-rounded product.

Beautiful New Website and Brand Refresh

Alongside the numerous product innovations of 2021, this year has also seen the launch of a new website and a complete brand refresh for Gravity Forms.

Check out this before and after video that highlights some of the transformations our website has seen…

With our stunning new website, both our customers and those new to Gravity Forms can now easily access everything they need to help them on their form building journey. From support and account needs, to information about add-ons and resources on the blog, moving forwards you will find all things Gravity Forms at your fingertips.

Examples include:

• Account Autonomy – The customer dashboard has been redesigned to give individuals more control over their Gravity Forms account, enabling customers to make any necessary license changes quickly and efficiently.

• Support Flows – The process of submitting a ticket has now been streamlined to ensure the community can quickly obtain the support they need. Resources and documentation are also more accessible, helping all users get the most out of Gravity Forms.

• Add-On Directory Enhancements – With a reworked Add-On directory, both existing customers and those new to Gravity Forms will be able to easily search, filter, and find the integrations they need.

These improvements, combined with a complete brand refresh, give the site, and Gravity Forms itself, a beautifully styled and dynamic identity.

A Brand Refresh: Familiar Yet Modern

The concept behind the brand refresh focused on ‘restoring a classic’ – taking the brand that the Gravity Forms community knew and loved, and giving it a fresh, vibrant, and noteworthy new look. With brighter colors, cleaner designs, and a more modern finish, we are certain that the new Gravity Forms brand will remain visible for years to come.

Alongside the website, the brand refresh now features within the product, and you will also find it splashed across Gravity Forms’ infamous swag (which will be available to purchase in the not too distant future!).

New Brand Identity for Rocketgenius

2021 has also seen brand updates for Rocketgenius, the company behind Gravity Forms. The new Rocketgenius brand identity has been designed to evoke simplicity while showcasing the company’s passion for technology.

At the core of the brand is a new icon mark – the letter ‘R’ – which contains a hidden shape of a rocket within its design. Built upon previous Rocketgenius branding, this logo has been created to both conjure up a retro-focused nostalgia as well as reflect the innovation and forward-thinking that drives the company.

For more information on the brand refresh and new website, check out this article – What You’ll Love About the New Gravity Forms Website.

The Launch of INPUT

This year, we were excited to launch a new project of a different kind: INPUT! Coming at you through video and podcast, INPUT tells the stories of people who are doing something creative, sharing the ins and outs of how their industries work, and providing insight for WordPress’s growing community of problem solvers.

For the first ever episode of INPUT, getting the story behind Gravity Forms was the natural choice. In this fascinating interview, the founders of Gravity Forms – Alex Cancado, Carl Hancock, and Kevin Flahaut – tell all about the origins of Rocketgenius, the launch of Gravity Forms, and what it takes to run a successful plugin business at scale.

 
Interested in some further insight into how Gravity Forms is run behind the scenes? Check out these other INPUT episodes that dive deep into the origins and ethos of Gravity Forms, as well as our priorities when it comes to providing a top-class plugin and customer service…

• Supporting Customer Success at Gravity Forms – Want to know more about how the team at Gravity Forms supports one of the most iconic products in the WordPress ecosystem? Or the type of support you can expect if you become a Gravity Forms customer? Find out more in this interview with Gravity Forms Customer Experience experts, Chris Hajer and Justin Pakes.

• Building New Features for Gravity Forms – Ever wondered how Gravity Forms decides which features to build next? Listen to AJ Morris, Product Manager at Rocketgenius, tell-all about the discipline of product management, and how Gravity Forms goes about planning and prioritizing features to release.

• INPUT: Building a Brand at Gravity Forms – As mentioned earlier, this year has seen the launch of a new website and a complete brand refresh for Gravity Forms. Hear from Travis Totz, Creative Director at Gravity Forms, discuss his vision for the project and share his thoughts on the importance of branding for any new WordPress product.

The Gravity Forms Community

Our community has never been stronger here at Gravity Forms, and we pride ourselves on working closely with our third-party developers who, over the years, have developed useful and dynamic plugins to extend and enhance Gravity Forms.

This year has seen the one year anniversary of the Gravity Forms Certified Developer Program. This invite-only program supports and promotes third-party developers and their premium add-ons, which ultimately enable our customers to do even more with Gravity Forms.

Our certified developers are trusted, long-term members of the Gravity Forms community, with track records for reliability, security, and support, and we are delighted to be able to recommend each and every one of their add-ons to all our customers.

If you are a third-party add-on developer, interested in finding out more about our Certified Developer program, please get in contact.

Supporting Community Events

Although we are still yet to see the return of the majority of in-person events, Gravity Forms has still enjoyed sponsoring a number of virtual events including…

• WordCamp US
• WordCamp EU
• WordCamp Taiwan
• INBOUND 2021
• WordSesh 2021

Through these virtual meetups, we have managed to connect with Gravity Forms fans, new and old, and we are looking forward to a time in the future when we can meet you all face-to-face!

Gravity Forms 2.6 Coming Soon!

With 2022 just around the corner, we are pleased to announce the imminent release of Gravity Forms 2.6 beta.

Gravity Forms 2.6 will boast a number of exciting new features including a new intuitive form embed process, a relocated form Submit button, and an impressive redesign of the UI for the Choices fields. Let’s take a look…

• An Inline Submit Button – With 2.6 you will find the form Submit button has been moved from Form Settings into the form editor. A long awaited feature, you will now be able to easily inline your Submit button, as well as alter the settings, all without needing to leave the editor or use CSS Ready Classes.

• A New Form Embed Process – Embedding a form in your website has never been easier with the Gravity Forms 2.6 new Embed Flyout. From within the form editor, you will be able to select where you would like a form to be displayed – this can include an existing page, post, or custom post type (with the use of filters). Equally, you will also have the option of creating both a new page or post, as well as viewing the form ID, and copying the form’s shortcode if required.

• An Improved Layout for Choices – With Gravity Forms 2.6 you will find a new and improved Choices Flyout that is responsive to page width. This extra space allows for a much better user experience, enabling you to easily view and manage the Choices options within the form editor.

Gravity Forms 2.6 will be released as a beta in early 2022 – listen out for more information coming soon, we can’t wait for you to try it out!

Not Yet a Gravity Forms Customer?

Love what you’ve heard about Gravity Forms and the direction the product is moving in? Ready to make a purchase and join our community?

Head on over to our Pricing page to view the Gravity forms licenses and choose the right option for your form building needs!

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