Fieldset

Fieldset Support Key: [2\|3\|3.2\|4] [X1\|X1.1] [*IE4B2\|M\|N6B1*\|O4]	What is it? Attributes Tag Example	Parent/Content Model Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
= Index DOT Html by Brian Wilson =

Quick Statistics
End Tag:		Required
Standards Details:		HTML: In all 4.x DTDs XHTML: In all 1.0 and 1.1 DTDs
XHTML Modules:		Forms
CSS 'display' Type:		"block"
CSS Mapping:		border
Default Rendering:		Border surrounding the content
Official Docs:		HTML 4.x, XHTML 1.1

What is it?: The nestable FIELDSET element is used to group related form fields together. The grouping of form fields allows for a more intuitive visual user interface while also giving speech-based navigation methods better cues of how to render a page.

The suggested rendering for the FIELDSET element is left to the browser, but will usually take the form of a box around the contents of the FIELDSET. If the optional LEGEND element is present directly after the opening FIELDSET tag, its contents are transposed above/on top of the region of the FIELDSET bounding box in the location specified by the ALIGN attribute of the LEGEND element.

Common Attributes
%Core%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B2|M|N6B1|O4]
%Accessibility%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B2|M|N6|O5]
%Events%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B2|M|N6B1|O4]
%Language%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N6B1|O]
%Editing%: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE5.5|M|N|O]
Specific Attributes
Align
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4*|M|N|O4]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description: Specifies the alignment of the contents of the FIELDSET.; Values: Left | Center | Right
Height
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O4-6.x]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
This attribute explicitly specifies the height of this block element in pixels.; Values: Positive integers.
Width
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O4-6.x]: Standards Details: NA; Required? No; Description:
This attribute explicitly specifies the width of this block element in pixels.; Values: Positive integers.

Example: <fieldset>
<legend accesskey="G" tabindex="1">Gender</legend>
<label accesskey="M"><input type="RADIO" name="Gender" value="Male" />Male</label> <br />
<label accesskey="F"><input type="RADIO" name="Gender" value="Female" />Female</label>
</fieldset>

Tips & Tricks

Browser Peculiarities

[Test] Note: The reference for Internet Explorer 4.0 lists the ALIGN attribute as valid. In experimenting with the FIELDSET element it DOES appear to have some effect on the FIELDSET itself, not on the contents of the FIELDSET as documented. The effect it has is just barely discernible, but it is trying to do SOMETHING with this attribute (but it doesn't appear to be succeeding very well =)
[Test] Netscape 6 Beta 1 interprets the DIR=RTL attribute slightly different than later Netscape betas and Internet Explorer.