<form>: The HTML Form Element

1 Description

The HTML form element exists to allow users a way to input information into a web page and submit that information to a web server.

Some common uses of HTML forms are...

  1. To allow users to submit login credentials (an email or username and a password) to a web server so that they may login to a website.
  2. To allow users to input billing and shipping information when making an online purchase.
  3. To input a search query or term to a website and be provided search results from the web server.

Contained within the <form> element are (usually) one or more <input> elements, <label> elements, and <button> elements. The <input> elements allow users to input text, numbers, <select> from one or more <option> elements in a dropdown menu, and more. <label> elements provide a name for different <input> elements, and <button> elements are typically used to submit the information in the html <form> to a web server or to reset the form to it's beginning state.

1.1 See Also

The following elements, because they are related to <form> elements.

  1. The <label> element
  2. The <form> element
  3. The <fieldset> element
  4. The <button> element

2 Examples

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Example Page</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <form action="/api/account/login" method="POST">
            <h1>Login</h1>
            <label for="username">Username</label>
            <input type="text" id="username" name="username" placeholder="Username" required/>
            <label for="password">Password</label>
            <input type="password" id="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" required/>
            <button type="submit">Login</button>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

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