Grouping Form Content

Before you start to put your form together, you should take the time to develop a thorough outline of the contents. After you have an outline of the information that you will be requesting from visitors, you can divide that information into logical groups based on similarity of content. The form that you are creating in this lesson can be split up into three sections: Contact Information, Experience and Interests, and Send Your Answers. After you determine the sections into which your form will be divided, you are ready to use fieldsets to create those sections within the form itself. Fieldsets are form elements that are used to create individual sections of content within a form. Grouping the contents of your form into smaller, self-contained sections makes it easier for visitors to understand and complete the form. It offers a way for them to immediately grasp the overall structure of the form.

1.	Place the insertion point in the first row of the table you created in the previous exercise. In the Forms category of the Insert bar, click the Fieldset button. The Fieldset dialog box opens.
2.	In the Legend text field, type Contact Information and click OK. A fieldset expands to occupy the full amount of space that is available to it. The top cell of the table you created in the previous exercise serves to establish the boundaries of the fieldset and control the layout. Similar to forms, fieldsets can be placed within a table, or you can place a table in a fieldset, but the table must completely contain or be contained by the fieldset.
3.	Place the insertion point in the second row and click the Fieldset button on the Insert bar. In the Legend text field, type Experience And Interests and click OK. The legend that you specify for a fieldset serves as a caption for the section; a way to identify the contents. When creating legends for fieldsets in your own forms, be as clear as possible. These legends should accurately reflect what their fieldsets contain.
4.	Place the insertion point in the third row and click the Fieldset button on the Insert bar. In the Legend text field, type Send Your Answers and click OK. A fieldset surrounds its contents with a pale gray line.
5.	Save the file and preview it in the browser.

Leave this file open for the next exercise.