HTML 4 form Tag
Also see HTML5 <form> Tag.
This page is for the HTML 4 version of this element. For a more up to date version, see HTML5 <form> Tag.
The HTML form tag is used for declaring a form.
The <form> tag is used in conjunction with form-associated elements. To create a form, you can nest form-associated elements inside the opening/closing <form> tags.
Form-Associated Elements
Here are the elements that you can use with your forms.
These elements allow the user to provide information to the website - information which can be submitted to the server for processing.
HTML 5 gives forms the ability to have improved functionality. For example, a form element can contain the form attribute to bind itself to a form. HTML 5 also introduces the <datalist> element. For more information, see the HTML 5 <form> element.
Example
Attributes
| Attributes specific to this tag: | |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Description |
| action | Specifies a URI/URL of the page that will process the form. |
| method | Specifies the HTTP method to use when the form is submitted. Possible values:
|
| enctype | Specifies the content type used to encode the form data set when it's submitted to the server. Possible values:
|
| accept-charset | Specifies a list of character encodings that the server accepts. The default value is "UNKNOWN". |
| accept | Specifies a comma-separated list of content types that the server accepts. |
| name | Assigns a name to the form. This is used when referencing the form with stylesheets or scripts. If there are multiple forms, the name of each form must be unique. |
| Other Attributes: | |
| Attribute | Description |
| class | Document wide identifier. |
| id | Document wide identifier |
| dir | Specifies the direction of the text |
| lang | Language code |
| target | Specifies the target frame to load the destination page as indicated with the action attribute. |
| onSubmit | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onReset | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onclick | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| ondbclick | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onmousedown | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onmouseup | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onmouseover | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onmousemove | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onmouseout | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onkeypress | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onkeydown | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
| onkeyup | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
HTML5 Tags
The information on this page is based on HTML version 4.01. Most modern browsers now support HTML5.
See HTML5 <form> Tag for the HTML5 version of the above element.
See this list of HTML tags for the latest list of HTML elements.