Overview of the HTML <FORM> Tag

CS100: The World of Computing
John Dougherty
Haverford College
Spring 2001

• Purpose of the HTML <FORM> Tag:
  • recall: without hyperlinks, page is passive, conventional text (like text in a book)
  • hyperlinks permit some interactive input so the reader has some (albeit limited) flexibility in reading the information in the page
  • input is positioning and clicking the mouse
    • simple
    • typically error-free
    • static - only can provide input that is pre-programmed by the page developer
  • HTML forms are designed to permit other types of interactive input
• Format (see p. 132)
  • <FORM> ... </FORM>
    • NAME = "name"
    • ACTION = "url"
  • <INPUT> - unpaired, defines input object
    • TYPE = "inputtype", where inputtype can be
      • text
      • image
      • checkbox
      • radio
      • button
      • submit
      • reset
    • SRC = "url"
    • NAME = "name"
    • CHECKED
    • SIZE = num
  • <SELECT> ... </SELECT>
    • OPTION elements
    • NAME = "name"
    • SIZE = num
    • MULTIPLE
  • <TEXTAREA> ... </TEXTAREA>
    • NAME = "name"
    • ROWS = num
    • COLS = num
• "Goofy" Example
• Relevant Issues
  • more type of input
  • more complicated to develop and implement
  • more prone to errors in
    • development
    • usage
  • HTML forms are a higher level of abstraction than typical text I/O done in other programming courses (e.g., C++, Java) - bound by the abstraction

Page maintained by John Dougherty
Computer Science, Haverford College