Textarea

Support Key: [2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M2A2|N1|O2.1]
What is it?
Attributes
Tag Example
Parent/Content Model
Tips & Tricks
Browser Peculiarities
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   Quick Statistics   
End Tag:
   Required
Standards Details:
In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
XHTML Modules:
Basic Forms, Forms
CSS 'display' Type:
"inline" (replaced element)
CSS Mapping:
NA
Default Rendering:
Editable text box of the specified row/column measurement
Official Docs:
HTML 4.x, XHTML 1.1

What is it?
The TEXTAREA element indicates a multi-line text entry field. The contents between the beginning and end TEXTAREA tags represent the initial contents of the field in the browser.

Common Attributes
%Core%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3|M|N6B1|O4]
%Accessibility%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6|O5]
%Events%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE3|M|N2|O3]
%Language%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N6B3|O]
%Data%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N|O]
%Editing%
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE5.5|M|N|O]

Specific Attributes
Accesskey
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6B2|O7]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? No
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.]
Cols
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M2A2|N1|O2.1]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? Yes
Description:
This attribute indicates the visible number of columns in the Textarea field.
Values: Positive integers
Disabled
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6B1|O5]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? No
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.
Values: NA (HTML); disabled (XHTML)
Height
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O4-5.x]
Standards Details: NA
Required? No
Description:
This attribute explicitly specifies the height of the textarea widget in pixels.
Values: Positive integers.
Name
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M2A2|N1|O2.1]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? Yes
Description:
This is a required attribute that associates a symbolic name to the field for submittal to the form processing script.
Values: CDATA.
Readonly
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6B1|O5]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? No
Description:
This is a stand-alone attribute which tells the browser that content in the field may not be modified by the reader.
Values: NA (HTML); readonly (XHTML)
Rows
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE1|M2A2|N1|O2.1]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? Yes
Description:
This attribute indicates the visible number of rows in the Textarea field.
Values: Positive integers
SDAForm
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O]
Standards Details: NA
Required? No
Description:
This is an SGML Document Access (SDA) attribute. SDA attributes are designed to transform HTML (and other SGML-based documents) to the ICADD DTD - which is used in creating accessible documents for users with visual disabilities (rendering in Braille, large print, speech synthesis, etc.) The attribute value specifies the name of the element to convert this element to in the SDA element group (in this case the 'Para' element - "paragraph".)
Value: Para (Denotes a 'paragraph' in SDA.)
SDAPref
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O]
Standards Details: NA
Required? No
Description:
This is an SGML Document Access (SDA) attribute. SDA attributes are designed to transform HTML (and other SGML-based documents) to the ICADD DTD - which is used in creating accessible documents for users with visual disabilities (rendering in Braille, large print, speech synthesis, etc.) The attribute value specifies content to be added BEFORE the original element content (in this case the string "Input Text -- #AttVal(Name): ") when the SDA document is rendered (SDA also allows attributes and values from the original element to be used in the new SDA element where necessary.) "#AttVal(Name)" refers to the TEXTAREA NAME attribute if present.
Value: "Input Text -- #AttVal(Name): "
Tabindex
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4B1|M|N6B3|O7]
Standards Details: In all HTML 4.x/XHTML DTDs
Required? No
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:
  1. Active elements using the TABINDEX attribute with positive integers are navigated first. Low values are navigated first.
  2. 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.
Values: Positive or negative integers.
Width
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE|M|N|O4-5.x]
Standards Details: NA
Required? No
Description:
This attribute explicitly specifies the width of the textarea widget in pixels.
Values: Positive integers.
Wrap
[2|3|3.2|4] [X1|X1.1] [IE4|M|N2-4.x|O]
Standards Details: NA
Required? No
Description:
This attribute indicates word-wrapping behavior for display and submitted data from the Textarea field.
Values:
   Off - No word wrapping to the textarea window occurs - if lines extend beyond the width of the textarea they will not wrap. Lines are sent exactly as typed. DEFAULT in Netscape
   Soft - Text is displayed with wordwrapping to the textarea enabled, but these wrap points are not transmitted upon submittal as returns/linefeeds. DEFAULT in Internet Explorer
   Hard - Text is displayed with wordwrapping to the textarea enabled, and these wrap points are preserved upon submittal.
Example
<form>
<textarea name="foo" rows="3" cols="40">
Default TEXTAREA value goes here
</textarea>
</form>
Parent Model
%In-line Parent% | %Block Parent%
Content Model
%Text%
Tips & Tricks Browser Peculiarities
Boring Copyright Stuff...