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396

Chapter 16 Using HTML Forms

TEXTAREA

 in the following subsection. 

TEXT

 is the default 

TYPE

 in 

INPUT

forms, although it is recommended that 

TEXT

 be supplied explicitly. You

should remember that the normal browser word wrapping applies inside

FORM

 elements, so be careful to make sure the browser will not separate the

descriptive text from the associated textfield. 

Core Approach

Use explicit HTML constructs to group textfields with their descriptive text.

Some browsers submit the form when the user presses Enter when the

cursor is in a textfield, but you should avoid depending on this behavior

because it is not standard. For instance, Netscape submits the form when the

user types a carriage return only if the current form has a single textfield,

regardless of the number of forms on the page. Internet Explorer submits the

form on Enter only when there is a single form on the page, regardless of the

number of textfields in the form. Mosaic submits the form on Enter only

when the cursor is in the last textfield on the entire page.

Core Warning

Don't rely on the browser submitting the form when the user presses Enter 

when in a textfield. Always include a button or image map that submits the 

form explicitly.

The following subsections describe the attributes that apply specifically to

textfields. Attributes that apply to general HTML elements (e.g., 

STYLE

,

CLASS

, 

ID

) are not discussed. The 

TABINDEX

 attribute, which applies to all

form elements, is discussed in Section 16.11 (Controlling Tab Order).

NAME

The 

NAME

 attribute identifies the textfield when the form is submitted. 

In standard HTML the attribute is required. Because data is always sent 

to the server in the form of name/value pairs, no data is sent from form 

controls that have no 

NAME

. 

VALUE

A 

VALUE

 attribute, if supplied, specifies the initial contents of the text 

field. When the form is submitted, the current contents are sent; these 

can reflect user input. If the textfield is empty when the form is submit 

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