Hey there!
There are a couple of options for this sort of thing!
There is a way to pull in some value for that field, automatically from your MailChimp list. What you’d want to do is set a “Default Value” in your forms in MailChimp, first:
How do I set default merge values (like Dear Customer)?: http://eepurl.com/hcDC
Then, after setting the value for each field, you’d want to update your list settings in WordPress by going to “Settings” -> “MailChimp Setup” -> “Update List”.
However, this method won’t add “placeholder” text, but rather actually fill in the form, forcing your subscribers to clear it out before they add their own information. There is a “hacky” way to do exactly what you’re looking for, however:
http://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/plugin-mailchimp-list-subscribe-form-request-add-placeholder-text-for-mailchimp-widget?replies=15
This method actually requires editing the plugin, so you’ll essentially be taking your life into your own hands (okay, so it’s not that serious…). However, the good news is that if something gets messed up, you can always re-install the plugin and the default PHP will come back. 🙂
If we can help with anything else, please don’t hesitate to give us a shout!
Cheers
When I try to do the ‘hacky’ way, I seem to get the email address, first name and second name all saying ‘Your best email….’
Further more the button is still messed up? The layout wouldn’t be as much of an issue cause I’d want to remove the email, first name, and second name texts.
Hey again!
Based on what I’m seeing with the site, it appears that there’s a slight CSS conflict with the page, as a whole. From tinkering around, the overflow set for inputs, overall, seems to be causing some problems for the submit button specifically. However, if you set the overflow to hidden just for that submit button, that should alleviate things!
Something like this:
input#mc_signup_submit {
overflow: hidden;}
Cheers!
This has made matters much worse. The button is the same, each box still says ‘Your best email….’ and they’re all still out of alignment.
So I guess that’s it.. no more help.. I think I’ll need to remove this plugin and find one that works and has better support.
Hey again.
Apologies for the delay, as I was away last week. As far as this specific issue is concerned, unfortunately it’s a css-related conflict.
Turns out, I was looking in the entirely wrong place. Instead of being overflow-related, it appears to be height related. Let’s try this, instead:
input#mc_signup_submit {
height: auto;}
Just to set expectations properly, while we definitely do our best to help out with the plugin and styling-related questions, your best bet in many cases is going to be to contact your web developer. Because each site theme has it’s own CSS and active plugins, we aren’t able to troubleshoot every styling issue.
With that said, however, if we can help with anything else, please don’t hesitate to give us a shout! We’ll be happy to give it a shot! 😀
Cheers
Ok so that’s fixed the button, but the alignment still isn’t right and the first, second name and email boxes, all three still have the text ‘Your Best Email….’
Hey again,
Happy to help with that. As far as that “Your Best Email…” input goes, you’ll really need to revert the changes made by the “hacky” way of setting that predefined value and set that information back up in your list. You could uninstall and reinstall the plugin and it should fix the php that was modified. The easiest and best way to set those values is going to be from the MailChimp side of things:
How do I set default merge values (like Dear Customer)?: http://eepurl.com/hcDC
After that, you’ll want to use the “Update List” option under “Settings” -> “MailChimp Setup” to refresh the information that your plugin is seeing.
As far as getting things to line up, the quickest way to do that is to dump the input boxes down on the next line with the following CSS:
#mc_signup_form .mc_input {
display:block;}
For more information about styling, check out this thread:
http://ww.wp.xz.cn/support/topic/plugin-mailchimp-list-subscribe-form-mailchimp-widget-subscribe-box-needs-aligning?replies=36
Cheers
