This chapter describes all of the different HTML form elements avalible.
The HTML <form>
element can contain one or more of the following form elements:
<input>
<label>
<select>
<textarea>
<button>
<fieldset>
<legend>
<datalist>
<option>
<optgroup>
One of the most used form elements is the <input>
element
The <input>
element can be displayed in several ways, depending on the type
attribute.
The <label>
element defines a label for several form elements.
The <label>
element is useful for people using screen-readers, as the screen-reader will read the label out loud when the user focus on the form element.
The <label>
element also help users who have difficulty clicking on very small regions (such as radio buttons or checkboxes) - because when the user clicks the text within the <label>
element, it toggles the radio button/checkbox.
The for
attribute of the <label>
tag should be equal to the id
attribute of the <input>
element to bind them together.
The <select>
element defines a drop-down list:
The <option>
elements defines an option that can be selected.
By default, the first item in the drop-down list is selected.
To define a pre-selected option, add the selected
attribute to the option:
Use the size
attribute to specify the number of visible values:
Use the multiple
attribute to allow the user to select more than one value:
The <textarea>
element defines a multi-line input field (a text area):
The rows
attribute specifies the visible number of lines in a text area.
The cols
attribute specifies the visible width of a text area.
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
The <button>
element defines a clickable button:
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in the browser:
Note: Always specify the type
attribute for the button element.
The <fieldset>
element is used to group related data in a form.
The <legend>
element defines a caption for the <fieldset>
element.
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
The <datalist>
element specifies a list of pre-defined options for an <input>
element.
Users will see a drop-down list of the pre-defined options as they input data.
The list
attribute of the <input>
element, must refer to the id
attribute of the <datalist>
element.