Why We Built SkunkForms on the Block Editor (And Why It Matters)

Every major WordPress form plugin has its own form builder. WPForms has one. Gravity Forms has one. Formidable has one. They're all different, and you have to learn each one from scratch.

We asked: what if we didn't build another one?

The WordPress Block Editor Is Already Good

WordPress shipped Gutenberg back in 2018. It was rough. People hated it. Fair enough — version 1.0 of anything is painful.

But it's 2026 now. The block editor is mature, fast, extensible, and — critically — familiar. If you've edited a WordPress page in the last few years, you already know how it works.

So instead of building Custom Form Builder #47, we built SkunkForms as native WordPress blocks:

• Text Input block
• Email block
• Textarea block
• Select / Dropdown block
• Checkbox block
• Radio block
• File Upload block
• Submit Button block

Drag them in. Configure them in the sidebar. Group them with columns. Reorder with drag and drop. It's just... WordPress.

What You Get For Free

By building on the block editor, SkunkForms automatically inherits everything WordPress has spent years refining — and it keeps your form stack lightweight:

Familiar UI

No learning curve. If you can edit a page, you can build a form. Same drag-and-drop. Same sidebar settings. Same keyboard shortcuts.

Block Patterns

Save a group of form fields as a reusable pattern. Use it across forms. Update it once, update everywhere.

Full Site Editing Compatibility

SkunkForms works in the site editor, not just the post editor. Embed forms directly in your theme templates — headers, footers, sidebars, anywhere.

Responsive by Default

The block editor's column system handles responsive layouts. Two-column forms on desktop automatically stack on mobile. No media queries needed.

Accessibility Built In

WordPress blocks come with accessibility baked in — ARIA labels, keyboard navigation, focus management. We extend this with proper form semantics, error announcements, and screen reader support.

Copy and Paste

Seriously. You can copy blocks between posts, between sites (with the same plugin), even share them as JSON. Try doing that with a proprietary form builder.

The Tradeoff

Let's be transparent: building on the block editor means we're limited by the block editor. A few things that proprietary builders can do more easily:

• Drag-and-drop field reordering — the block editor handles this, but it's not as smooth as a dedicated sortable list
• Visual form builder preview — what you see in the editor is close but not pixel-perfect to the front end (though our styling options help bridge that gap)
• Extremely complex layouts — for 99% of forms, columns work great. For the rare edge case, you might need custom CSS

For us, the tradeoff is worth it. Learning one UI that works everywhere beats learning five UIs that each work differently.

What This Means For You

If you're evaluating SkunkForms, here's the practical benefit:

1. Zero training — your team already knows the interface
2. Faster form building — no context switching to a separate builder
3. Future-proof — as WordPress improves the block editor, SkunkForms improves with it
4. No vendor lock-in on the UI — your forms are WordPress blocks, not proprietary blobs

We didn't build a form builder. We built form blocks. And that makes all the difference.

Ready to try it? Get started with SkunkForms in under 5 minutes — or see how it compares to other form builders in our 2026 comparison.