Positioned Elements and OS Controls, Applets and Plug-ins

Form Elements

In the table below, we have reproduced all the valid form elements. Drag the bordered positioned element on the right over the elements to witness the behavior.

Type	Renders as...	HTML	Problem in...
Text Field		<INPUT TYPE=TEXT>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Password Field		<INPUT TYPE=PASSWORD>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Checkbox		<INPUT TYPE=CHECKBOX>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Radio Button		<INPUT TYPE=RADIO>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
File Upload Field		<INPUT TYPE=FILE>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Submit Button		<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Reset Button		<INPUT TYPE=RESET>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Custom Button		<INPUT TYPE=BUTTON>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Select List (Drop-Down)	SelectList	<SELECT>	NS4.x Opera IE4.x IE5.x IE6.x	NS4.x IE4.x* IE5.x*
Select List (non-Drop-Down)	SelectList DisplayingMultipleOptions	<SELECT SIZE=3>	IE4.x IE5.x IE6.x NS4.x NS6.x** Opera	NS4.x IE4.0
Text Area	Multiple Row and Column Text Input Field	<TEXTAREA></TEXTAREA>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x

Notes:

* IE for Macintosh has a limited problem with the SELECT element. If the element is not selected, there is no persistence. If, however, the element is selected and the drop-down menu appears, the menu itself persists.

** NS6 for Windows also has an unusual behavior with SELECT. There is no persistence unless the SELECT element displays scrollbars. Then, the scrollbars persist. It seems that the element is internal to NS except for the scrollbars which are called from the OS. In the early NS6.0, the scrollbars and the content of multi-line SELECT elements persist. The element border, however, does not.

Summary

NS4 and Opera call all the form elements from the OS and have persistence problems with all of them.

IE has solved the persistence problem in all elements except for SELECT elements in Windows. On the Mac, even SELECT elements do not persist, unless the drop-down menu appears.

Form-Type Elements

ISINDEX

The little-used <ISNDEX> tag also generates a text input element (and some browser-generated prompt text, and two horizontal lines). This, too, floats above HTML elements in NS4 and Opera. In IE and NS6 there is no persistence.

Type	HTML	Problem in...
CGI Communication Text Field	<ISINDEX>	NS4.x Opera	NS4.x
Renders as...

BUTTON

The HTML4 <BUTTON> tag is not supported by NS4 and will not appear if defined. In the browsers that do support it (IE, NS6, Opera) there is no persistence problem

Note:

Opera calls <INPUT TYPE=BUTTON> as an OS button with persistence, but <BUTTON></BUTTON> is drawn by the browser without peristence. This is unusual as one would expect both to have similar origins.

That about exhausts our discussion of form elements. On the next page, we'll look at the behavior of built-in plug-ins.