---
title: Creating alternative forms for on-line forms
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k8/configuring-kentico/creating-alternative-forms.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k8/developing-websites/defining-website-data-structure/document-types/configuring-document-types/creating-alternative-forms-for-document-types.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k8/configuring-kentico/creating-alternative-forms/code-names-of-automatically-used-alternative-forms.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

The alternative forms allow you to create alternative representations of existing forms, which you can then use in different situations.

You can also create all types of alternative forms in a similar way in the appropriate sections of the UI:

- **Document type** alternative forms in the **Document types** application.
- **Custom table** alternative forms in the **Custom tables**application.

This example shows you how to create an alternative form of the existing **Contact us** form on the sample **Corporate Site**.

## Adding the alternative form

1. In the **Forms** application, **Edit** () the **Contact Us** form.
2. Switch to the **Alternative forms** tab.
3. Click the **Create new form** button.
4. Type in the **Display name**.
5. Check the **Make new fields hidden** check-box (this ensures that any new fields added to the main form are not displayed in the alternative form by default).

   ![Creating an alternative form for the Contact Us form](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/creating-alternative-forms-for-on-line-forms/creating_alternative_form.png "Creating an alternative form for the Contact Us form")
6. Click **Save**.

## Configuring the form fields and layout

After you create an alternative form for the Contact us form, you can adjust its fields (using the [field editor](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/custom-development/developing-form-controls/reference-field-editor.md)) and layout.

1. Switch to the **Fields** tab. All fields present in the original form are also available here and you can modify their configuration.
2. Modify the fields according to your needs. For example, disable the **LastName** field:
   1. Select the **LastName** field in the list on the left.
   2. Uncheck **Display attribute in the editing form**.
   3. Click **Save**.
3. Switch to the **Layout** tab.
4. Check the **Use custom form layout** radio button.

   - The system displays the layout editor.
   - Notice that the **LastName** field that we disabled in the previous step is not offered in the drop-down list.
5. Select **HTML** or **ASCX** as the layout type.
6. Click the **Generate default layout** button.

   - The system generates a default table layout in the editing area below.
7. Adjust the default layout using the text editor or ASCX markup.
   - For example, highlight the _$$label:FirstName$$_ text in the first row and change its color to red using the text editor.

     ![Changing the Contact Us form layout](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/creating-alternative-forms-for-on-line-forms/creating_custom_alternative_form_layout.png "Changing the Contact Us form layout")
8. Click **Save**.

## Displaying the alternative form on the website

1. Open the **Pages** application.
2. Navigate to **Examples -> Web parts -> Forms -> On-line form**. The original version of the **Contact Us** form is displayed on the page.
3. Switch to the page's **Design** tab.
4. Open the web part menu () next to the the **On-line form** web part's properties.
5. Click on **Configure**.

   ![Configuring On-line form web part](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/creating-alternative-forms-for-on-line-forms/configuring_online_form_webpart.png "Configuring On-line form web part")
6. Click the **Select** button next to the **Alternative form name** property. The **Select alternative form** dialog opens.
7. Choose the _BizForm.ContactUs_ class and select the previously created alternative form.

   ![Choosing an alternative form](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/creating-alternative-forms-for-on-line-forms/choosing_alternative_form.png "Choosing an alternative form")
8. Click **Select** and **OK** to close the dialogs.

Now when you switch to **Preview** mode, you should see the modified version of the form.

 ![An alternative representation of the Contact Us form](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/creating-alternative-forms-for-on-line-forms/alternative_representation_of_a_form.png "An alternative representation of the Contact Us form")