form

I. 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 options 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.

See also the following elements.

  1. The label element
  2. The input element
  3. The fieldset element
  4. The button element

II. 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>