HTML Forms
An HTML form is used to collect user input. The user input is most often sent to a server for processing.
Example
The Element
The HTML element is used to create an HTML form for user input:
The element is a container for different types of input elements, such as: text fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, submit buttons, etc.
All the different form elements are covered in this chapter: HTML Form Elements.
The Element
The HTML element is the most used form element.
An element can be displayed in many ways, depending on the type attribute.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Displays a single-line text input field | |
| Displays a radio button (for selecting one of many choices) | |
| Displays a checkbox (for selecting zero or more of many choices) | |
| Displays a submit button (for submitting the form) | |
| Displays a clickable button |
All the different input types are covered in this chapter: HTML Input Types.
Text Fields
The defines a single-line input field for text input.
Example
A form with input fields for text:
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
Note: The form itself is not visible. Also note that the default width of an input field is 20 characters.
The Element
Notice the use of the element in the example above.
The tag defines a label for many form elements.
The element is useful for screen-reader users, because the screen-reader will read out loud the label when the user focuses on the input element.
The element also helps users who have difficulty clicking on very small regions (such as radio buttons or checkboxes) — because when the user clicks the text within the element, it toggles the radio button/checkbox.
The for attribute of the tag should be equal to the id attribute of the element to bind them together.
Radio Buttons
The defines a radio button.
Radio buttons let a user select ONE of a limited number of choices.
Example
A form with radio buttons:
Choose your favorite Web language:
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
Choose your favorite Web language:
Checkboxes
The defines a checkbox.
Checkboxes let a user select ZERO or MORE options of a limited number of choices.
Example
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
I have a bike
I have a car
I have a boat
The Submit Button
The defines a button for submitting the form data to a form-handler.
The form-handler is typically a file on the server with a script for processing input data.
The form-handler is specified in the form’s action attribute.
Example
A form with a submit button:
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
The Name Attribute for
Notice that each input field must have a name attribute to be submitted.
If the name attribute is omitted, the value of the input field will not be sent at all.
Example
This example will not submit the value of the «First name» input field:
Example
This is the example code for the article Your first HTML form.
A simple form
HTML Content
form action="/my-handling-form-page" method="post"> div> label for="name">Name:label> input type="text" id="name" name="user_name"> div> div> label for="mail">E-mail:label> input type="email" id="mail" name="user_email"> div> div> label for="msg">Message:label> textarea id="msg" name="user_message">textarea> div> div class="button"> button type="submit">Send your messagebutton> div> form>
CSS Content
form /* Just to center the form on the page */ margin: 0 auto; width: 400px; /* To see the limits of the form */ padding: 1em; border: 1px solid #CCC; border-radius: 1em; > div + div margin-top: 1em; > label /* To make sure that all label have the same size and are properly align */ display: inline-block; width: 90px; text-align: right; > input, textarea /* To make sure that all text field have the same font settings By default, textarea are set with a monospace font */ font: 1em sans-serif; /* To give the same size to all text field */ width: 300px; -moz-box-sizing: border-box; box-sizing: border-box; /* To harmonize the look & feel of text field border */ border: 1px solid #999; > input:focus, textarea:focus /* To give a little highligh on active elements */ border-color: #000; > textarea /* To properly align multiline text field with their label */ vertical-align: top; /* To give enough room to type some text */ height: 5em; /* To allow users to resize any textarea vertically It works only on Chrome, Firefox and Safari */ resize: vertical; > .button /* To position the buttons to the same position of the text fields */ padding-left: 90px; /* same size as the label elements */ > button /* This extra margin represent the same space as the space between the labels and their text fields */ margin-left: .5em; >