Errors in new HTML 2.0 spec related to FORMs

Paul Burchard (burchard@horizon.math.utah.edu)
Fri, 14 Oct 94 13:54:21 -0600

There are some problems in the new (10/14/94) HTML 2.0 spec draft
related to FORMs. Most of them are carryovers from the HAL draft. I
would appreciate their being corrected as soon as possible.

In HTMLSPEC_3.html ("Overview"), the example FORM has some logical
and syntactic glitches:

> <FORM METHOD="post" action="http://www.hal.com/sample">

As far as I know, method names are case-sensitive, and thus "POST"
must be capitalized.

> <P>Your name: <INPUT NAME="name" SIZE="48">
> <P>Male <INPUT NAME="male" TYPE=RADIO>
> <P>Female <INPUT NAME="female" TYPE=radio>

That ought to be NAME="gender" (or the like) in the radio
inputs...unless you really want to allow the user to select any
combination of genders!

> </FORM>

In HTMLSPEC_19.html ("Forms"), the example FORM has many problems.
It clearly has not been run through Dan Connolly's validation
service. :-)

> <TITLE>Sample Questionaire</TITLE>
> <H1>Sample Questionaire</H1>
> Please fill out this questionaire:

That should be "questionnaire" (two n's) in all 3 cases.

> <FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="http://www.hal.com/sample">

Again, need "POST" capitalized.

> <P>Your name: <input name="name" size="48">
> <P>Male <input name="male" type=radio>
> <P>Female <input name="female" type=radio>

Same problem as above; use name="gender" for these.

> Number in family: <input name="family" type=int>

There is no INPUT of type INT in HTML Level 2. This part of the
example is *still* in there from Dave Raggett's year-old HTML+ spec,
despite many attempts on my part to eradicate it. :-)

> <P>Cities in which you maintain a residence:
> <UL>
> <LI>Kent <input name="city" type=checkbox value="kent">
> <LI>Miami <input name="city" type=checkbox value="miami">
> <LI>Other <textarea name="other" cols=48 rows=4></textarea>
> </UL>
> Nickname: <INPUT NAME="nickname" size ="42">
> <P>Thank you for responding to this questionaire.

Again, "questionnaire".

> <P ALIGN=CENTER><INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT> <INPUT TYPE=RESET>

There is no ALIGN attribute for the P element in HTML Level 2.
(Another unkillable fragment from the old HTML+ spec. :-)

> </FORM>

In the same file, the discussion of INPUTs of type CHECKBOX states:

> The default VALUE for checkboxes is ON.

Actually, that should be "on", not "ON". You may want to surround it
with quotes, or enclose it in <SAMP></SAMP> -- rather than using
capitalization -- to prevent it from being misunderstood.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Burchard <burchard@math.utah.edu>
``I'm still learning how to count backwards from infinity...''
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