HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
chapter
five
Working with Forms
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
is the single greatest tool ever invented for collecting information. Web forms are re-
sponsible for this. We use them every day, whether we are purchasing something online, doing research using our fa-
vorite search engine, or logging into our e-mail. Web forms have become an essential part of our everyday browsing
experience; in fact, without them, the Internet would be a rather dull place (yes, really).
Joe's website needs a web form so that customers can book a table directly through the website. This chapter teaches
you how to create a simple web form and embed it within your web pages. First, you will create the new Bookings
page with a barebones form. Once you have your page set up, you will start adding a number of different form fields
to it using a range of HTML elements, such as
<input>
,
<label>
,
<select>
, and
<textarea>
. You will fin-
ish by updating the site navigation and sitemap to include the new Bookings page.
In this chapter you are just going to focus on creating a basic form using elements that were present in HTML4. Once
you have this form set up, Chapters 6 and 7 will teach you how to use new HTML5 features to enhance your web
forms. These new features include specialized input types that make it easier for users to input data and tools for valid-
ating the data inputted by users. Figure 5-1 shows the completed Bookings page that you will be building in these
three chapters.
