BUTTON is a TYPE attribute value to the INPUT element for FORMs. It places
a button on an HTML form and uses scripting code to make the button perform
an action you define (this is aside from the information that it sends in
the Name/Value pair upon form submittal.) Note that this INPUT type does
not actually initiate a form submission.
Description:
This is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML element using
a keyboard character. This is a common GUI paradigm also known
as a "keyboard shortcut" or "keyboard accelerator"
A single character is used as the value of this attribute. In addition,
a platform-dependent key is usually used in combination with the
ACCESSKEY character to access the functionality of the active field.
Values:CDATA.
[A single, case-insensitive character from a browser's character set.]
Align
[2|3|3.2|4]
[X1|X1.1]
[IE|M|N6B1|O]
Standards Details:
Deprecated in HTML 4.x/XHTML 1.0. Dropped in XHTML 1.1 in favor of CSS.
Required? No
Description:
This attribute specifies the alignment of text following the INPUT
reference relative to the field on screen. LEFT and RIGHT specify floating
horizontal alignment of the form field in the browser window, and subsequent
text will wrap around the form field. The other options specify vertical
alignment of text relative to the form field on the same line.
Values:Left | Right |
Top | Texttop |
Middle | Absmiddle |
Baseline | Bottom |
Absbottom
Description:
This is a stand-alone attribute which indicates the element is
initially non-functional. Disabled form elements should not be submitted
to the form processing script.
Description:
"Tabbing" is a method of giving access/focus to an active HTML
element using a standard keyboard sequence. All the active elements in a
document can be cycled through using this sequence (ex: Windows TAB key.)
The order of the active elements in this cycle is usually the order they
occur in the document, but the TABINDEX attribute allows a different order
to be established. The use of this attribute should create the following
tabbing order cycle if the browser supports the attribute:
Active elements using the TABINDEX attribute with positive integers are
navigated first. Low values are navigated first.
Active elements not specifying any TABINDEX attribute
Those elements carrying a DISABLED attribute or using negative TABINDEX
values do not participate in the tabbing cycle.
Description:
This is a required attribute representing the symbolic result of the button
field when activated that is passed to the form processing script. It is
also used to indicate a label to be displayed on the face of the button.
DTD Note:
I made VALUE a required attribute because browsers do not usually have
a default button label for the element (unlike submit and reset) - this makes
the button blank or almost non-existant if no VALUE is present.
Browser Peculiarities
I was surprised to find that Netscape has supported this element
since version 1.0. I am not sure what purpose it served in that era
because its main focus is now related to scripting (which was not
supported until Navigator 2.0)
Netscape does not appear to have advertised that it supports the
HEIGHT and WIDTH attributes for this element. A reader alerted me
to them when he discovered them by accident.
Note: If HEIGHT and/or WIDTH dimensions are
specified that are smaller than the default size required to
display a button, the default size will be used.
[Test]
Internet Explorer 4.0 honors all whitespace and carriage returns in the value
attribute for this element. The button will preserve and display them 'as-is'.
Other browsers and earlier versions of Internet Explorer do not do this.
[Test]
Netscape 4+ allows some Character-level formatting to be applied to the
contents of this form field. These physical formatting elements (along with
virtual formatting elements that are rendered identically, such as
EM and I) apply to this form field: I, U, TT, S, STRIKE, SUB, SUP, BIG,
SMALL, FONT SIZE and FONT FACE.
[Test]
The DIR="RTL" attribute right aligns the content of INPUT elements
WITHIN the form field, not the element itself relative to the
viewport as it does for other elements.