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Choose and design questionnaire themes

Pick how forms look, make your own copy of a standard theme, change its colours and style, and keep difficult forms calm.

Checked against the screens:

Every organisation can choose its own words for the people and roles it works with. When you are signed in, this guide uses your organisation’s words. Otherwise it uses the product’s own.

Themes are for managers and admins. A theme changes how a form looks, not what it asks.

Steps

  1. Open the Questionnaire Themes list from Questionnaires, using Form themes.
  2. Look at the swatches. A System theme is read-only. A theme marked Yours is your own.
  3. Press Customise on a System theme to copy it, or Create blank theme to start fresh. The editor opens.
  4. Change the name, Density, Choice Style, colours, fonts and layout. The preview on the right updates as you go.
  5. Press Save changes. If the colours are hard to read, a message asks you to pick a stronger accent.
  6. Choose the theme for a form on that form's Theme tab in the editor.

If it goes wrong

  • If save is refused for contrast, choose an accent colour with more contrast against its text. Nothing was saved.
  • If you cannot edit a theme, it is a System theme. Press Customise to make your copy.
  • To remove a theme you made, use Archive on its row. Check first which forms use it.

System themes and yours

System themes are shared by every organisation and are read-only, so the list shows Use as-is on them. Customise copies one into your own list, and the row then says it was forked from the original. A theme you create from scratch is marked Yours.

Layout and feel

  • Density sets how tightly the form is spaced.
  • Choice Style sets how answer options look.
  • Layout can be paged, one question on each screen, or all questions on one page.
  • Progress indicator can be dots or none.
  • Button shape can be pill, rounded or square.
  • Completion screen can be quiet, celebrate or confetti.

Colours and fonts

Set an accent colour and the colour of text on buttons. Six choice colours are used for options. Pick a heading font and a body font. The editor checks the colours are readable. If they are not, it refuses to save and says why.

Safeguarding mode

Enable disclosure mode is for safeguarding forms only. It locks the completion screen to quiet, fixes the thank-you text to a calm, trauma-informed message, and switches off confetti and celebration. Use it for any form where a child may tell you something difficult.

Using a theme

Pick the theme for each form in that form's editor, under the Theme tab. You can also override single settings for one form without changing the theme for everyone.

How it links together

From theme to screenA theme is applied to a form when a recipient opens it.
  1. ThemeColours and style
  2. FormChosen in the editor
  3. RecipientSees the look
  4. Calm modeFor sensitive forms

Themes change presentation only, never the questions or the answers. A form without a theme uses the default look. Disclosure mode also fixes the thank-you text, which matters for forms where a child may share something worrying. Your usual safeguarding process still applies to what they say.

Questions people ask

Why can't I edit a theme?

It is a System theme, which is shared and read-only. Press Customise to make a copy you can edit.

What does disclosure mode do?

It keeps the form calm. The completion screen is quiet, the thank-you is fixed and no animations play. Use it for safeguarding forms.

Why was my theme not saved?

The colours may not be easy enough to read. Choose a stronger accent colour and save again.

What happens to forms if I archive a theme?

Archiving takes it out of your list. Check which forms use it and give them another theme first. Questions never change.

Can one form look different from the theme?

Yes. The Theme tab in the form editor lets you override single settings for that form.

Does a theme change what the form asks?

No. A theme only changes how a form looks and feels.