Introduction to Forms

Forms and form elements are used by web developers to collect data & information from users on websites. This can include;

• drop down boxes
  • Multiple choices
• text entry
  • Usernames
  • Real Names
  • phone numbers
  • emails
  • etc
• radio checkmarks/buttons
  • “Which of the following applies”
• password input
  • Hidden text input
• buttons
  • Used for submitting information and navigating to new pages
• file uploads

The most common example of a form in use is a searchbox, such as Google or Bing.

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Please read the following for basic information about forms:

• How does a form work

The <form> Element

To include a form in a webpage we must declare a form element section. This is simply accomplished by using the <form>...</form> tags.

Between these tags will be separate “form elements” such as “text boxes” and “buttons” that we will discuss in the proceeding pages.

Form Attributes

The following are attributes that you should always include in a form element tag.

action

The action attribute is a link to a server-side script (i.e. a file on another computer, not the users computer). Typically this file is code file (php, javascript, python, java, etc) on a server that will do ‘something’ with the user data before returning information back to the browser.

The value of the action attribute will always be an URL.

method

Forms can be sent using one of two methods; ‘get’ or ‘post’.

With the ‘get’ method, values are added to the end of the specified action URL.

This methods is ideal for searches, or for retrieving data from a server (as opposed to sending data that will be stored in a database).

With the ‘post’ method, values are sent in what are known as ‘HTTP headers’. As a rule of thumb, use the ‘post’ method when;

• users are uploading a file.
• the data will be very long
• the data is sensitive (ie. contains passwords)
• The data is intended to alter or access a database on the server.

id & class

As with many other elements in HTML, you should assign a unique element id and class that can be used by other languages to refer to the specific form.

Form Code Example

<form action="http://www.example.com/subscribe.php" method="get" id="basicForm">
    <!-- This is where the related form elements and controls will appear. -->
</form>