Bootstrap 5 Forms: Making Your Forms Awesome, Step by Step

Maheen Waris | Oct 15, 2023 min read

Creating forms on your website doesn’t have to be a headache. With Bootstrap 5, it’s a breeze! Bootstrap 5 provides you with tools to build stylish and user-friendly forms without the need for complicated coding. In this article, we’ll walk through the process of creating forms with Bootstrap, step by step. We’ll cover form controls, input groups, and validation.

Why Forms Matter

Forms are an essential part of many websites. They help you gather information from users, such as their names, email addresses, and messages. Whether it’s a contact form, a signup form, or a search bar, forms play a crucial role in user interaction.

Getting Started

To start using Bootstrap 5 for your forms, follow these steps:

Step 1: Setting Up Your HTML

First, create an HTML file for your form. Start with the basic structure, including the necessary Bootstrap stylesheet and JavaScript links.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <link
      rel="stylesheet"
      href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css"
    />
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- Your form goes here -->

    <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

Step 2: Creating the Form

Inside the <body> of your HTML document, you can create a form using the <form> element. This is where users will input their information.

<form>
  <!-- Form controls and input groups go here -->
</form>

Step 3: Adding Form Controls

Now, you can add various form controls like text fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons. Bootstrap provides specific classes to style these controls. For example, to create a text input field, use the .form-control class.

<form>
  <div class="form-group">
    <label for="name">Name:</label>
    <input
      type="text"
      class="form-control"
      id="name"
      placeholder="Enter your name"
    />
  </div>
  <!-- Add more form controls here -->
</form>

Step 4: Input Groups

Bootstrap also allows you to create input groups. These are useful for adding additional elements to your form controls, like buttons or icons.

<form>
  <div class="form-group">
    <div class="input-group">
      <div class="input-group-prepend">
        <span class="input-group-text">@</span>
      </div>
      <input
        type="text"
        class="form-control"
        placeholder="Username"
        aria-label="Username"
        aria-describedby="basic-addon1"
      />
    </div>
  </div>
  <!-- Add more input groups here -->
</form>

Step 5: Validation

Bootstrap makes form validation a breeze. You can add simple validation classes to your form controls to ensure users input the correct data.

<form>
  <div class="form-group">
    <label for="email">Email address:</label>
    <input
      type="email"
      class="form-control is-invalid"
      id="email"
      placeholder="Enter your email"
    />
    <div class="invalid-feedback">Please provide a valid email.</div>
  </div>
  <!-- Add more validation controls here -->
</form>

Bootstrap website’s Forms:

To explore and copy form-related code using Bootstrap 5, you can visit the official Bootstrap website’s Forms Documentation at https://getbootstrap.com/docs/5.0/forms/. This comprehensive resource provides detailed information and code examples for creating stylish forms using Bootstrap 5. You can easily copy the code examples from this documentation to use in your own web projects.


Conclusion

Bootstrap 5 simplifies the process of creating user-friendly forms for your website. By following these steps, you can build forms with ease, add form controls, input groups, and even perform validation. Whether you’re collecting user data or creating interactive search bars, Bootstrap 5 has got you covered. So, don’t let form creation be a daunting task – give Bootstrap 5 a try and make your forms awesome!