Chapter 68. Working with Form Widgets

The little thingies that you click and type text into on a form have a name other than thingies. They're called widgets and occasionally also form fields or form objects. A large part of designing an effective form is being able to identify the various widgets and knowing which ones to use for what kinds of entries.

GEEKSPEAK

Widgets (also form fields or form objects) are the little thingies that you click and type text into on a form.

Table 68.1 runs down the list of HTML widgets, in case you need a refresher. The sections that follow take each widget in turn.

Table 68.1. HTML Widgets

WIDGET	USED FOR	TAG
Button (generic)	Launching a function	<input type="button">
Checkbox	Selecting any number of several options	<input type="checkbox">
File field	Attaching an external file to the form data	<input type="file">
Hidden field	Storing hidden data	<input type="hidden">
Image field	Sending the form data to the Web server	<input type="image">
List	Selecting any number of several options (but usually just one)	<select size="x"></select>
Menu	Selecting any number of several options (but usually just one)	<select></select>
Password field	Entering a password	<input type="password">
Radio button	Selecting one of several options	<input type="radio">
Reset button	Returning all widgets in the form to their default states	<input type="reset">
Submit button	Sending the form data to the Web server	<input type="submit">
Text area	Entering multiple lines of text	<textarea></textarea>
Text field	Entering a single line of text	<input type="text">