HTML Form Attributes

The Action Attribute

The action attribute defines the action to be performed when the form is submitted.
Usually, the form data is sent to a file on the server when the user clicks on the submit button.

In the example below, the form data is sent to a file called "action_page.php". This file contains a server-side script that handles the form data:

Tip: If the action attribute is omitted, the action is set to the current page.

The Target Attribute

The target attribute specifies where to display the response that is received after submitting the form.
The target attribute can have one of the following values:

The Method, Autocomplete and Novalidate Attributes

Method

The method attribute specifies the HTTP method to be used when submitting the form data.
The form-data can be sent as URL variables (with method="get") or as HTTP post transaction (with method="post").
The default HTTP method when submitting form data is GET.

• Appends the form data to the URL, in name/value pairs
• NEVER use GET to send sensitive data! (the submitted form data is visible in the URL!)
• The length of a URL is limited (2048 characters)
• Useful for form submissions where a user wants to bookmark the result
• GET is good for non-secure data, like query strings in Google

• Appends the form data inside the body of the HTTP request (the submitted form data is not shown in the URL)
• POST has no size limitations, and can be used to send large amounts of data.
• Form submissions with POST cannot be bookmarked

Autocomplete

The autocomplete attribute specifies whether a form should have autocomplete on or off.
When autocomplete is on, the browser automatically complete values based on values that the user has entered before.

Novalidate

The novalidate attribute is a boolean attribute.
When present, it specifies that the form-data (input) should not be validated when submitted.