HTML5: from documents to applications - HTML5 in Action - page 12

What else can you do to boost the presence of your existing applications using HTML5?
How about integrating easy features that jazz up your forms? Even though forms are ubi-
quitous, in HTML5 that doesn't mean they have to be boring and plain.

1.1.5. Introducing HTML5's new form features

It rarely receives acclaim, but the humble web form has played a major role in the emer-
gence of the web as a platform for application development. HTML5's focus on web ap-
plications led to many improvements in web forms, all of which you can use today, without
breaking compatibility with older web browsers.

Improving the semantics of data input using new form input types

The basic text field has been used far beyond its primitive capabilities. In the same way
that the <div> element was used in HTML4 for all sorts of block content, the text input
is used for all sorts of textual input. HTML5 aims to ease its burden by offering a num-
ber of new and backward-compatible types, each of which provides enhancements over the
simple text field. Table 1.1 identifies the new input types in HTML5.

Table 1.1. The new form input types introduced in HTML5
color date datetime datetime-local email

month number range search tel

time url week

You can use these new input types in your web pages immediately because older browsers
will fall back to a standard text input type when they find a type they don't understand.
Some of the new input types will also allow browsers to provide standard widget controls
for given types of form fields. Figure 1.1 shows examples of these new widgets.