An HTML form is used to collect user input and send it to a server for processing.
<form action="forms/processing.php" method="post">
<label for="first_name">First name:</label>
<input type="text" id="first_name" name="first_name">
<label for="last_name">Last name:</label>
<input type="text" id="last_name" name="last_name">
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email">
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
This is what it looks like without any styling.
The first part of the form is the form tag itself, which has an action attribute. The action attribute is usually a PHP document which has the code to process or store the information. The method attribute tells the browser how to send the form content (usually either POST or GET).
GET:
- Appends the form data to the URL, in name/value pairs
- The submitted form data is NOT SECURE as it is visible in the URL
- The length of a URL is limited to 2048 characters
- Useful for form submissions where a user wants to bookmark the result and return to it later (like product searches with filters)
POST:
- Appends the form data inside the body of the HTTP request (the form data is not shown in the URL) which makes it more secure
- POST has no size limitations and can be used to send large amounts of data
- Form submissions with POST cannot be bookmarked as the data is hidden from the URL bar
<form action="forms/processing.php" method="post">
</form>
Inside the form are several sets of labels and corresponding input fields. The label uses a “for” attribute to specify which input it belongs to (the input has a matching #id).
In the example below we have two text inputs to collect the user’s first and then last name. The third input is an email type to collect the user’s email address.
<label for="first_name">First name:</label>
<input type="text" id="first_name" name="first_name">
<label for="last_name">Last name:</label>
<input type="text" id="last_name" name="last_name">
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="email" id="email" name="email">
Finally, we have the submit button (another input type) that, when clicked, will send the contents of the form to the PHP document (form action) for processing and often storage in a database. The value is the button text.
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
Attributes
The following attributes can be used within the form tag.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| accept-charset | character_set | Specifies the character encodings that are to be used for the form submission |
| action | URL | Specifies where to send the form data when a form is submitted |
| autocomplete | on off | Specifies whether a form should have autocomplete on or off |
| enctype | application/x-www-form-urlencoded multipart/form-data text/plain | Specifies how the form data should be encoded when submitting it to the server (only for method=”post”) |
| method | get post | Specifies the HTTP method to use when sending form data |
| name | text | Specifies the name of a form |
| novalidate | novalidate | Specifies that the form should not be validated when submitted |
| rel | external help license next nofollow noopener noreferrer opener prev search | Specifies the relationship between a linked resource and the current document |
| target | _blank _self _parent _top | Specifies where to display the response that is received after submitting the form |
The following attributes can be used within the input tags.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| accept | file_extension audio/* video/* image/* media_type | Specifies a filter for what file types the user can pick from the file input dialog box (only for type=”file”) |
| alt | text | Specifies an alternate text for images (only for type=”image”) |
| autocomplete | on off | Specifies whether an <input> element should have autocomplete enabled |
| autofocus | autofocus | Specifies that an <input> element should automatically get focus when the page loads |
| checked | checked | Specifies that an <input> element should be pre-selected when the page loads (for type=”checkbox” or type=”radio”) |
| dirname | inputname.dir | Specifies that the text direction will be submitted |
| disabled | disabled | Specifies that an <input> element should be disabled |
| form | form_id | Specifies the form the <input> element belongs to |
| formaction | URL | Specifies the URL of the file that will process the input control when the form is submitted (for type=”submit” and type=”image”) |
| formenctype | application/x-www-form-urlencoded multipart/form-data text/plain | Specifies how the form-data should be encoded when submitting it to the server (for type=”submit” and type=”image”) |
| formmethod | get post | Defines the HTTP method for sending data to the action URL (for type=”submit” and type=”image”) |
| formnovalidate | formnovalidate | Defines that form elements should not be validated when submitted |
| formtarget | _blank _self _parent _top framename | Specifies where to display the response that is received after submitting the form (for type=”submit” and type=”image”) |
| height | pixels | Specifies the height of an <input> element (only for type=”image”) |
| list | datalist_id | Refers to a <datalist> element that contains pre-defined options for an <input> element |
| max | number date | Specifies the maximum value for an <input> element |
| maxlength | number | Specifies the maximum number of characters allowed in an <input> element |
| min | number date | Specifies a minimum value for an <input> element |
| minlength | number | Specifies the minimum number of characters required in an <input> element |
| multiple | multiple | Specifies that a user can enter more than one value in an <input> element |
| name | text | Specifies the name of an <input> element |
| pattern | regexp | Specifies a regular expression that an <input> element’s value is checked against |
| placeholder | text | Specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of an <input> element |
| readonly | readonly | Specifies that an input field is read-only |
| required | required | Specifies that an input field must be filled out before submitting the form |
| size | number | Specifies the width, in characters, of an <input> element |
| src | URL | Specifies the URL of the image to use as a submit button (only for type=”image”) |
| step | number any | Specifies the interval between legal numbers in an input field |
| type | button checkbox color date datetime-local file hidden image month number password radio range reset search submit tel text time url week | Specifies the type <input> element to display |
| value | text | Specifies the value of an <input> element |
| width | pixels | Specifies the width of an <input> element (only for type=”image”) |
We’d like to acknowledge that we learned a great deal of our coding from W3Schools and TutorialsPoint, borrowing heavily from their teaching process and excellent code examples. We highly recommend both sites to deepen your experience, and further your coding journey. We’re just hitting the basics here at 1SMARTchicken.
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HTML NOTES:
- In our HTML section the term “tag” and “element” are often used interchangeably to refer to both the tag used to create a page element and the element created by the tag (
ptag =pelement = paragraph on the page) - HTML5 is not case sensitive; so
Pis the same asp,ÂH1is the same ash1 - Global attributes can be used with all HTML tags and are therefore not mentioned on every tag page
- To write clean, readable HTML code, it is best to use indentation whereas elements within elements are indented (tabbed or spaces) to create something that looks like a project outline
- The browser will automatically remove any extra spaces and lines in your HTML code when the page is displayed
- Double quotes or single quotes can be used around HTML attribute values, but when the attribute value itself contains one form of quote, it will be necessary to use the other around the attribute
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