Free-Form "Insert Elements" positioning.

[Anonymous]

Hi, I need some light-shed on the current matter.

I am very new to Marketo and our marketer wants a template where one can drag and drop "Insert Elements" onto a free-form page template.

How does this work? I mean I add (for instance) a Form control onto the page and it's default position is wherever you put it on the page with a "Left" attribute of x pixels from the left of the browser window.

How does one insert any of the "Insert Elements" into a specific container of a template so that it is positioned correctly?

I have this misconception of dragging an "insert element" from the right and dropping it into a div element and setting its position properties according to the the div element. Is it not done this way? Should I rather create a guided landing page and let the marketer send me specifications to add to a template myself? What are the free-form templates for then?

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Ervin,

There is no possibility to make sure that elements will be positioned correctly on a free form template (unless you are ready to invest significantly in some development, and even though I am not sure it will be possible to do something really bullet-proof). The positioning is done by the user and is an absolute positioning, making it very ill-suited for mobile (although a mobile version can be created, but it has nothing to do with responsive design).

I feel you should consider looking into guided landing page templates. See

• Understanding Free-form vs Guided Landing Pages - Marketo Docs - Product Docs
• Create a Guided Landing Page - Marketo Docs - Product Docs
• Guided Landing Page Templates - Marketo Docs - Product Docs

-Greg

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply. I have already gone through those pages and built a few GLPTs, thus my concerns about the Free-Form templates. The whole drag and drop onto the form seems quite silly regarding that it is absolute positioned. So the only way (I guess) is for me to add in all the necessities (like images and forms) where needed.

[SanfordWhiteman]

What Greg said.

I have some clients that use JS to make Free-Form templates more "guided-like" . But all of those workarounds date from before the debut of Guided Templates proper.  Now, you should just use GLPTs.

[Anonymous]

Hi, so for what type of scenario would one actually use the free-form templates?

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Honestly, only for LP's that are old enough to have been created before GLPT came to production and the GLPT technology was mastered by vendors such as hoosh or knak, making it easy to access by anyone, even without a skilled web developper

-Greg

[SanfordWhiteman]

With GLPTs available and a web designer on call, there isn't much of a reason anymore (but of course people have longtime workflows that depend on FFLPTs, so migration has been understandably slow).

The idea of free-form has always been to give non-designers the freedom to create pages.  When marketers are under the gun to put up a new campaign in an hour, with no template available but a blank FFLPT, it still makes sense.

I've heard users wish for, say, a single non-guided element that marketers could drag anywhere onto a GLP when someone's breathing down their neck!  I understand the desire. But that would upset the guided notion and lead to confusion.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for clearing things up guys!

[Grégoire_Miche2]

Hi Ervin,

Pls mark it as answered, so that it gets out of the radar.

-Greg

[Anonymous]

It is also important to remember to add these 'insert elements' to a relative positioned container whereas these 'insert elements' are absolutely positioned.