Choose and Customize a Form Theme

Themes control the overall look of your form. They also determine which layout and styling controls are available in the builder.

1. Open a form in the builder (or create a new one).
2. Select Theme above the builder’s left panel.
3. Choose a theme category, then select a preview inside it. The change appears on the form canvas immediately and saves automatically.

The theme picker offers three categories:

• Modern (Recommended): flexible designs that work with One or Many questions per page. The recommended design uses your Workspace brand colour.
• Accessible & public sector: clear, high-contrast designs for public services, health services, schools and charities. See Accessible and public-sector themes.
• Classic: scrollable designs for forms that show Many questions per page.

Some older forms may keep a retired theme that is no longer offered for new forms. It remains visible while that form uses it, but you cannot apply it to another form.

Use the Theme customization toolbar

When the Theme tab is open, the toolbar above the form preview shows the controls supported by the active theme:

• Questions per page: switch between Many and One where the theme supports both. See One at a time and Many per page forms.
• Colours: each dot changes the part named in its tooltip, such as buttons, links, focus, errors or input borders. The available dots depend on the theme.
• Text: change the size, weight and colour of titles, questions and body text. Modern and Classic themes may also offer font combinations. Public-sector themes keep their system font.
• Background: change the page colour and, on themes that support it, add a background image.
• Save as default: make this form’s theme, toolbar changes, logo and page mode the starting design for new forms in the same Workspace.

If the form no longer matches its Workspace default, Apply default brand appears at the top of the Theme tab. Select it to restore that Workspace design.

Note

Changing to a theme that does not support One question at a time also changes the form to Many questions per page. Quizzes with instant answer feedback must stay in One mode.

Accessible and public-sector themes

Open Accessible & public sector to choose one of these designs:

• UK public service
• UK health service
• US public service

These themes use high-contrast controls, visible keyboard focus, linked error summaries and straightforward Back/Continue navigation. They use your own logo and wording; choosing one does not add a government or health-service identity to the form.

When the progress indicator is on, it appears as a caption near the form heading: for example, Question 3 of 9 in One mode or Page 2 of 5 in Many mode. Read questions aloud is also on by default for these themes. Both settings are available under Settings → Appearance.

Public-sector forms can also show your Workspace’s Privacy notice, Accessibility statement and Contact us links in their footer. Add those links in the Workspace settings under Brand → Footer links. Contact us accepts an email address; the other links must start with https://.

Change colours

1. Open Theme and make sure the intended theme is selected.
2. In the toolbar above the form, hover or focus a colour dot to see what it changes.
3. Select the dot and choose a colour, enter a HEX value, or use the eyedropper.

Change text styles and fonts

1. Open Theme and select the Aa control under Text.
2. Adjust the Title, Questions and Body rows. The available controls can include size, weight and colour.
3. If the theme offers font combinations, select one from the font list.

Changes appear immediately and save automatically.

Select a background image

Select Background in the theme toolbar. You can change the background colour and, where supported, choose a photo from the built-in library or Upload / My Gallery. Once an image is set, use Image strength to adjust how strongly it appears, or select Remove.

Can you apply different themes to separate pages?

No. The selected theme applies to the entire form.

Change to another theme

Select another category or preview in the Theme tab.

If you have customized the active theme, Shout warns that changing it will discard those changes. Select OK to continue or Cancel to keep the current design. Record any custom HEX values you may want to reuse before switching.