Quick Reference
The <textarea> tag defines a multi-line text input element often used in a form to collect user inputs like comments or reviews.
<form>
<label for="reviews">Review of 1SMARTchicken:</label>
<textarea name="reviews" rows="5" cols="50"></textarea>
<input type = "submit" value = "submit" />
</form>Attributes
The following attributes can be used within the <textarea> tag.
| Attribute | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| autofocus | autofocus | Specifies that the text area should automatically get focus when the page loads |
| cols | number | Specifies the visible width of the text area |
| dirname | textareaname.dir | Specifies that the text direction of the text area will be submitted |
| disabled | disabled | Specifies that the text area should be disabled |
| form | form_id | Specifies which form the text area belongs to |
| maxlength | number | Specifies the maximum number of characters allowed in the text area |
| name | text | Specifies a name for the text area |
| placeholder | text | Specifies a short hint that describes the expected value of the text area |
| readonly | readonly | Specifies that a text area should be read only |
| required | required | Specifies that the text area is required and must be filled out |
| rows | number | Specifies the visible number of lines in a text area |
| wrap | hard soft | Specifies how the text in a text area is to be wrapped when submitted in a form |
HTML Notes:
- In our HTML section the term “tag” and “element” are often used interchangeably to refer to both the tag used to create a page element and the element created by the tag (<p> tag = <p> element = paragraph on the page)
- HTML5 is not case sensitive; so <P> is the same as <p>, <H1> is the same as <h1>
- Global attributes can be used with all HTML tags and are therefore not mentioned on every tag page
- To write clean, readable HTML code, it is best to use indentation whereas elements within elements are indented (tabbed or spaces) to create something that looks like a project outline
- The browser will automatically remove any extra spaces and lines in your HTML code when the page is displayed
- Double quotes or single quotes can be used around HTML attribute values, but when the attribute value itself contains one form of quote, it will be necessary to use the other around the attribute
We’d like to acknowledge that we learned a great deal of our coding from W3Schools and TutorialsPoint, borrowing heavily from their teaching process and excellent code examples. We highly recommend both sites to deepen your experience, and further your coding journey. We’re just hitting the basics here at 1SMARTchicken.