Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML, 5th Edition

(^374) Chapter 9 XHTML Forms
Table 9.12Common attributes of the tag
Common
Attributes Values Usage
type submit Functions as a submit button.
reset Functions as a reset button.
button Functions as a button.
name Alphanumeric, no spaces, begins
with a letter
Names the form element so that it can be easily
accessed by client-side scripting languages (such as
JavaScript) or by server-side processing. The name
should be unique.
alt Brief text description of the image Provides accessibility to visitors unable to view the
image.
id Alphanumeric, no spaces, begins
with a letter
Provides a unique identifier for the form element.
value Text or numeric characters A value given to a form element that is passed to the
form handler.
Figure 9.21
The
element configured
as a submit button
The following XHTML code creates the button shown in Figure 9.21:

As you visit Web pages and look at their source code, you will find that the
element is not used as often as the standard submit button or the image button.

9.4Using CSS to Style a Form

Many Web developers cruise along using CSS for page layout until they need to code a

form. Tables (usually avoided when coding CSS page layouts) are traditionally used to

configure forms. This section will show you two approaches to using CSS to style a

form—the first uses a table whose attributes have been configured with CSS instead of

with XHTML, the second does not use an XHTML table.

Figure 9.21 shows a form that has an image (signup.gif) configured as a submit button

using the <button>element.