HTML Tables and

Forms

Chapter 5

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

© 2017 Pearson
Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development - 2 nd Ed.
http://www.funwebdev.com
 HTML Tables
A grid of cells

A table in HTML is created using the <table> element

Tables can be used to display:
• Many types of content
• Calendars, financial data, lists, etc…

• Any type of data

• Images
• Text
• Links
• Other tables

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML Tables
Example usages

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Table Basics
Rows and cells

• an HTML <table> contains any number of rows (<tr>)

• each row contains any number of table data cells (<td>)
• Content goes inside of <td></td> tags
<table>
<tr>
<td>The Death of Marat</td>
</tr>
</table>
content

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 A Simple Example

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 With Table Headings

th

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Why Table Headings

A table heading <th>

• Browsers tend to make the content within a <th>
element bold
• <th> element for accessibility (it helps those using
screen readers)
• Provides semantic information about the row being
a row of headers

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Spanning Rows and Columns

Each row must have the

same number of <td> or
<th> containers. If you
want a given cell to cover
several columns or rows,
use the colspan or
rowspan attributes

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Using Tables for Layout
It works in many situations

• Popular in 1990s
• Results in table bloat
• Not semantic
• Larger HTML pages
• Longer load time

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Web Accessibility
Not all web users are able to view the content on web pages
in the same manner.
The term web accessibility refers to the assistive
technologies, various features of HTML that work with those
technologies, and different coding and design practices that
can make a site more usable for people with visual, mobility,
auditory, and cognitive disabilities.
In order to improve the accessibility of websites, the W3C
created the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines
• Provide text alternatives for any non-text content
so that it can be changed into other forms people
need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols,
or simpler language.
• Create content that can be presented in different
ways (for example simpler layout) without losing
information or structure.
• Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
• Provide ways to help users navigate, find content,
and determine where they are.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Accessible Tables
1. Describe the table’s content using the <caption>
element
2. Connect the cells with a textual description in the
header using the scope="col" attribute

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Accessible Tables
More about the scope="col" attribute:
From the text:
It is quite revealing to listen to reader software recite
the contents of a table that has not made these
connections. It sounds like this: “row 3, cell 4: 45.56;
row 3, cell 5: Canada; row 3, cell 6: 25,000; etc.”
However, if these connections have been made, it
sounds instead like this: “row 3, Average: 45.56; row 3,
Country: Canada; row 3, City Count: 25,000; etc.,”
which is a significant improvement.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Additional table tags
• <caption>
• <col>,<colgroup>
• <thead>
• <tfoot>
• <tbody>

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Styling Tables
The old ways deprecated

In HTML5 it is left to CSS. However legacy support for deprecated

HTML attributes still exist
 width, height—for setting the width and height of cells
 cellspacing—for adding space between every cell in the table
 cellpadding—for adding space between the content of the cell
and its border
 bgcolor—for changing the background color of any table element
 background—for adding a background image to any table
element
 align—for indicating the alignment of a table in relation to the
surrounding container

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Styling Tables
Borders

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Styling Tables
Padding and spacing

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Styling Tables
Examples

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Styling Tables
Examples

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Nth-Child
Nifty Table styling tricks: hover effect and zebra-stripes

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML Forms
Richer way to interact with server

Forms provide the user with an alternative way to

interact with a web server.
• Forms provide rich mechanisms like:
• Text input : Search functionality

• Password input

• Options Lists

• Radio and check boxes

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Static Vs Dynamic
Forms make pages dynamic
Static page Dynamic page

 Forms make pages dynamic

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Overview of Forms
 Forms are used all over the Web to:
– Accept information
– Provide interactivity

 Types of forms:
– Search form, Order form, Newsletter sign-up
form, Survey form, Add to Cart form, Login form,
and so on…

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development 23

 Form Elements
The <form> element can contain one or more of the
following sub-elements:

 <input> <option>
 <textarea> <optgroup>
 <button> <fieldset>
 <select>
<label>

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Form Controls: <input>
 The input element of a form allows various
kinds of data to be accepted from the user.
 Include one of the following type attributes:

• text • radio
• password • checkbox
• hidden • submit
• reset

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Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 type="text"

First name:<input type="text"><br>

Last name:<input type="text"><br>

 The type= "text" attribute creates a 20-character box

for user input.
How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 type="password"

Password:< input type="password">

This attribute creates a standard text box but with bullets
instead of characters as the user types.
How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

 Note: this does not encrypt the password; it simply

provides a shield for anyone looking at the user’s
screen.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 The Name Attribute
First name:< input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last name:< input type="text" name="lastname">
<br>

 Creates variables, firstname and lastname which

hold the values of the strings entered into each
text box.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Radio Buttons
Radio buttons are useful when you want the user to
select a single item from a small list of choices and you
want all the choices to be visible
• radio buttons are added via the <input type="radio">
element

• The buttons are mutually exclusive (i.e., only one can

be chosen) by sharing the same name attribute

• The optional checked attribute is used to indicate the

default choice

• the value attribute works in the same manner as with

the <option> element.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Radio Buttons
 Radio buttons let a user select ONLY ONE of a limited
number of choices:
< input type="radio" name="gender" value="m"> Male<br>
< input type="radio" name="gender" value="f"> Female<br>

 How the HTML code above looks in a browser:

 Note: The name attributes are the same. Why?

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Radio Buttons

**Note: because only 1 value is

returned, the name attributes should
all be the same.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Checkboxes
Checkboxes are used for getting yes/no or on/off
responses from the user.
• checkboxes are added via the <input type="checkbox”>
element

• You can also group checkboxes together by having them

share the same name attribute

• Each checked checkbox will have its value sent to the

server

• Like with radio buttons, the checked attribute can be

used to set the default value of a checkbox

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Checkboxes
 Checkboxes let a user select ZERO or MORE options
of a limited number of choices.
< input type="checkbox" name="bike">
I have a bike<br>
< input type="checkbox" name="car">
I have a car <br>

 Note: The name attributes are different. Why?

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Selection
 Selection, or drop-down, lists typically allow the
user to select one value from a list of options.
<select name="cars">
<option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
<option value="saab">Saab</option>
<option value="fiat">Fiat</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Which Value to send
Select Lists Cont.

The value attribute of the <option> element is used to

specify what value will be sent back to the server.
The value attribute is optional; if it is not specified,
then the text within the container is sent instead

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Text Areas
 The HTML for a text area with default text:
Comments:<br>
<textarea name="comments" placeholder="If
you have any comments, please enter them
here.">
</textarea>

Note: This input will require special handling. More to

come about that later…

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 type= "submit"
 The submit button is used to send form data somewhere for
processing. The data is sent to the page specified in the form's
action attribute. The file defined in the action attribute usually
does something with the received input:

Username: <input type="text" name="user">

<input type="submit" value="Submit">
The value
attribute
How the HTML code above looks in a browser: specifies the
text to display
on the button

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 type= "reset"

<input type= "reset" value= "Reset">

The value attribute

specifies the text to
display on the button

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Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 Accessible Forms
Recall the <fieldset>, <legend>, and <label> elements.
Each <label> element should be associated with a
single input element.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Accessible Forms
Recall the <fieldset>, <legend>, and <label> elements.
Each <label> element can also be associated with a single input
element by wrapping it around the element (but watch for nesting
rules).

<p>Client Type:
<label> <input type="radio" name="type" value="School">School</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="type" value="College">College</label>
<label><input type="radio" name="type" value="University">University</label>
</p>

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Accessibility guideline
 Use labels to associate text with form input controls
so the user can click on the label text to select the
control that the label is associated with. This also
helps assistive devices.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Label element
<label></label>

 Associates a text label with a form control

Two Different Formats:


<label>
<input type="radio" name= "crust" value= "hand"> Hand
Tossed
</label>

Or
<label for="email" >Email: </label>
<input type="text" name="CustEmail" id= "email">

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Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 Fieldset and Legend Elements
 The Fieldset Element
– Container tag
– Creates a visual group of
form elements on a web
page
 The Legend Element
– Container tag
– Creates a text label within
the fieldset

<fieldset><legend>Customer Information</legend>
<label>Name:
<input type="text" name=“name" id="Name"></label>
<br><br>
<label>Email:
<input type="text" name="Email" id="Email"></label>
</fieldset>
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Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 How forms interact with servers

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Attributes of the <form>
element:
– name: identifier for the form

– action: URL of the file that will process the data

– method: HTTP method for submitting the data; “get”

or “post”

– [target]: where to open the pages specified in the

action attribute; _blank opens in a new window or
tab.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 GET vs POST
 Get: form data is sent as part of URL
– the data is visible and can be bookmarked
The URL when the form is submitted with the get
method:
subscribe.php?email=zak%40modulemedia.com&submit=Subscribe
The data is after the ? and is called the query string

 Post: form data is packaged as part of an HTTP request

and isn’t visible by the browser
– more secure
– resulting page can’t be bookmarked
 In either case: the same data is transmitted:
?email=zak%40modulemedia.com&submit=Subscribe

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 GET vs POST

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Query Strings

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 URL encoding
Special symbols

• URLs, including and query strings:

• must use only characters from the ASCII character set
• may not contain spaces
• Spaces are replaced with either + or %20
• Other values not in the ASCII character set are URL-encoded
according to the character set for the page
• The default character set for HTML5 is UTF-8
Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 GET vs POST
Advantages and Disadvantages

GET
 Data can be clearly seen in the address bar.
 Data remains in browser history and cache.
 Data can be bookmarked
 Limit on the number of characters in the form
data returned.
POST
 Data can contain binary data.
 Data is hidden from user.
 Submitted data is not stored in cache, history,
or bookmarks.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Putting It All Together
 One form element containing the
desired controls:

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Button Controls
Preferred
Type Description
<input type="submit"> Creates a button that submits the form data to the server. May
have a value = " " attribute to control the text that displays on
the button.
<input type="reset"> Creates a button that clears any of the user’s already entered
form data. May have a value = " " attribute to control the text
that displays on the button.
<input type="button"> Creates a custom button. This button may require Javascript for
it to actually perform any action.
<input type="image"> Creates a custom submit button that uses an image for its
display.

<button> Creates a custom button. The <button> element differs from

<input type="button"> in that you can completely customize
what appears in the button; using it, you can, for instance,
include both images and text, or skip server-side processing
entirely by using hyperlinks.
You can turn the button into a submit button by using the
type="submit" attribute.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Button Controls

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Specialized Controls
<input type="hidden">
Use the hidden type attribute for sending string values along
with other data that the user doesn’t see or input – a product ID
for example:
<input type="hidden" name="productid" value="C1003">

<input type="file">

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Number and Range

Typically input values need to be validated. Although

server side validation is required, optional client side pre-
validation is good practice.
The number and range controls Added in HTML5 provide
a way to input numeric values that eliminates the need for
JavaScript numeric validation!!!

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Number and Range

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Color

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Date and Time Controls

Dates and times often need validation when gathering

this information from a regular text input control.
From a user’s perspective, entering dates can be tricky
as well: you probably have wondered at some point in
time when entering a date into a web form, what
format to enter it in, whether the day comes before
the month, whether the month should be entered as
an abbreviation or a number, and so on.
It's always a good idea to let the user know what
format you expect.

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML5 Date and Time Controls

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML5 Date and Time Controls

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML Controls
Type Description
date Creates a general date input control. The format for the date
is "yyyy-mm-dd".

time Creates a time input control. The format for the time is
"HH:MM:SS", for hours:minutes:seconds.

datetime Creates a control in which the user can enter a date and time.

datetime- Creates a control in which the user can enter a date and time
local without specifying a time zone.

month Creates a control in which the user can enter a month in a

year. The format is "yyyy-mm".

week Creates a control in which the user can specify a week in a

year. The format is "yyyy-W##".

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 HTML5
 HTML 5 will support several new input types such as:
 Color, date, email, etc. Check the following site for
browser compatibilities:
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_form_input_types.asp

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Formatting
 Aligned label, text box, and button controls

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 The HTML for the form
<label for="firstname">First name:</label>
<input type="text" name="firstname" id="firstname" autofocus><br>

<label for="lastname">Last name:</label>

<input type="text" name="lastname" id="lastname"><br>

<label for="address">Address:</label>
<input type="text" name="address" id="address"><br>

<label for="city">City:</label>
<input type="text" name="city" id="city"><br>

<label for="state">State:</label>
<input type="text" name="state" id="state"><br>

<label for="zip">Zip code:</label>

<input type="text" name="zip" id="zip"><br>

<input type="submit" name="register" id="button" value="Register">

<input type="reset" name="reset" id="reset" value="Reset">
Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development
 The CSS for the controls
label {
float: left;
width: 5em;
text-align: right;}
input {
margin-left: 1em;
margin-bottom: .5em;}
#button {
margin-left: 7em;}

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Microformats
A microformat is a small pattern of HTML markup and
attributes to represent common blocks of information
such as people, events, and news stories so that the
information in them can be extracted and indexed by
software agents
hCard – markup contact information
hNews – richly formatted, standardized markup:

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 Microformat

Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development

 What you’ve learned
1 Introducing Tables
2 Styling Tables

3 Introducing Forms
4 Form Control Details

5 Table and Form

Accessibility 6 Microformats

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Randy Connolly and Ricardo Hoar Fundamentals of Web Development