button
elementautofocus
disabled
form
formaction
formenctype
formmethod
formnovalidate
formtarget
name
type
value
interface HTMLButtonElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean autofocus; attribute boolean disabled; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute DOMString formAction; attribute DOMString formEnctype; attribute DOMString formMethod; attribute DOMString formNoValidate; attribute DOMString formTarget; attribute DOMString name; attribute DOMString type; attribute DOMString value; readonly attribute boolean willValidate; readonly attribute ValidityState validity; readonly attribute DOMString validationMessage; boolean checkValidity(); void setCustomValidity(in DOMString error); readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The button
element represents a
button.
The element is a button.
The type
attribute controls the behavior of the button when it is activated.
It is an enumerated attribute. The following table
lists the keywords and states for the attribute — the keywords
in the left column map to the states in the cell in the second
column on the same row as the keyword.
Keyword | State | Brief description |
---|---|---|
submit
| Submit Button | Submits the form. |
reset
| Reset Button | Resets the form. |
button
| Button | Does nothing. |
The missing value default is the Submit Button state.
If the type
attribute is in
the Submit Button
state, the element is specifically a submit button.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the button
element with its
form owner. The name
attribute represents the element's name. The disabled
attribute is used to make
the control non-interactive and to prevent its value from being
submitted. The autofocus
attribute controls focus. The formaction
, formenctype
, formmethod
, formnovalidate
, and formtarget
attributes are
attributes for form submission.
The formnovalidate
attribute can
be used to make submit buttons that do not trigger the constraint
validation.
The formaction
, formenctype
, formmethod
, formnovalidate
, and formtarget
must not be specified
if the element's type
attribute is not in the Submit Button
state.
The value
attribute gives the element's value for the purposes of form
submission. The element's value is the value of the element's
value
attribute, if there is
one, or the empty string otherwise.
A button (and its value) is only included in the form submission if the button itself was used to initiate the form submission.
The following button is labeled "Show hint" and pops up a dialog box when activated:
<button type=button onclick="alert('This 15-20 minute piece was composed by George Gershwin.')"> Show hint </button>
select
elementoption
or optgroup
elements.autofocus
disabled
form
multiple
name
required
size
interface HTMLSelectElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean autofocus; attribute boolean disabled; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute boolean multiple; attribute DOMString name; attribute boolean required; attribute unsigned long size; readonly attribute DOMString type; readonly attribute HTMLOptionsCollection options; attribute unsigned long length; getter any item(in unsigned long index); any namedItem(in DOMString name); void add(in HTMLElement element, in optional HTMLElement before); void add(in HTMLElement element, in long before); void remove(in long index); readonly attribute HTMLCollection selectedOptions; attribute long selectedIndex; attribute DOMString value; readonly attribute boolean willValidate; readonly attribute ValidityState validity; readonly attribute DOMString validationMessage; boolean checkValidity(); void setCustomValidity(in DOMString error); readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The select
element represents a control for
selecting amongst a set of options.
The multiple
attribute is a boolean attribute. If the attribute is
present, then the select
element
represents a control for selecting zero or more options
from the list of
options. If the attribute is absent, then the
select
element represents a control for
selecting a single option from the list of options.
The size
attribute gives the number of options to show to the user. The size
attribute, if specified, must
have a value that is a valid non-negative integer
greater than zero. If the multiple
attribute is present,
then the size
attribute's
default value is 4. If the multiple
attribute is absent,
then the size
attribute's
default value is 1.
The list of options
for a select
element consists of all the
option
element children of the select
element, and all the option
element children of all the
optgroup
element children of the select
element, in tree order.
The required
attribute is a boolean attribute. When specified, the
user will be required to select a value before submitting the
form.
If a select
element has a required
attribute specified,
does not have a multiple
attribute specified, and has a display size of 1; and if the
value of the first
option
element in the select
element's
list of options (if
any) is the empty string, and that option
is not disabled, and, finally, that
option
element's parent node is the select
element (and not an optgroup
element), then that
option
is the select
element's
placeholder label option.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the select
element with its
form owner. The name
attribute represents the element's name. The disabled
attribute is used to make
the control non-interactive and to prevent its value from being
submitted. The autofocus
attribute controls focus.
type
Returns "select-multiple
" if the element
has a multiple
attribute, and "select-one
"
otherwise.
options
Returns an HTMLOptionsCollection
of the list of options.
length
[ = value ]Returns the number of elements in the list of options.
When set to a smaller number, truncates the number of option
elements in the select
.
When set to a greater number, adds new blank option
elements to the select
.
item
(index)Returns the item with index index from the list of options. The items are sorted in tree order.
Returns null if index is out of range.
namedItem
(name)Returns the item with ID or name
name from the list of options.
If there are multiple matching items, then a NodeList
object containing all those elements is returned.
Returns null if no element with that ID could be found.
add
(element [, before ])Inserts element before the node given by before.
The before argument can be a number, in which case element is inserted before the item with that number, or an element from the list of options, in which case element is inserted before that element.
If before is omitted, null, or a number out of range, then element will be added at the end of the list.
This method will throw a HIERARCHY_REQUEST_ERR
exception if element is an ancestor of the
element into which it is to be inserted. If element is not an option
or
optgroup
element, then the method does nothing.
selectedOptions
Returns an HTMLCollection
of the list of options that are
selected.
selectedIndex
[ = value ]Returns the index of the first selected item, if any, or −1 if there is no selected item.
Can be set, to change the selection.
value
[ = value ]Returns the value of the first selected item, if any, or the empty string if there is no selected item.
Can be set, to change the selection.
The following example shows how a select
element
can be used to offer the user with a set of options from which the
user can select a single option. The default option is
preselected.
<p> <label for="unittype">Select unit type:</label> <select id="unittype" name="unittype"> <option value="1"> Miner </option> <option value="2"> Puffer </option> <option value="3" selected> Snipey </option> <option value="4"> Max </option> <option value="5"> Firebot </option> </select> </p>
Here, the user is offered a set of options from which he can select any number. By default, all five options are selected.
<p> <label for="allowedunits">Select unit types to enable on this map:</label> <select id="allowedunits" name="allowedunits" multiple> <option value="1" selected> Miner </option> <option value="2" selected> Puffer </option> <option value="3" selected> Snipey </option> <option value="4" selected> Max </option> <option value="5" selected> Firebot </option> </select> </p>
datalist
elementoption
elements.interface HTMLDataListElement : HTMLElement { readonly attribute HTMLCollection options; };
The datalist
element represents a set of
option
elements that represent predefined options for
other controls. The contents of the element represents fallback
content for legacy user agents, intermixed with option
elements that represent the predefined options. In the rendering,
the datalist
element represents
nothing.
The datalist
element is hooked up to an
input
element using the list
attribute on the
input
element.
Each option
element that is a descendant of the
datalist
element, that is not disabled, and whose value is a string that isn't the
empty string, represents a suggestion. Each suggestion has a value and a label.
options
Returns an HTMLCollection
of the options
elements of the table.
optgroup
elementselect
element.option
elements.disabled
label
interface HTMLOptGroupElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean disabled; attribute DOMString label; };
The optgroup
element represents a group of
option
elements with a common label.
The element's group of option
elements consists of
the option
elements that are children of the
optgroup
element.
The disabled
attribute
is a boolean attribute and can be used to disable a group of
option
elements together.
The label
attribute must be specified. Its value gives the name of the group,
for the purposes of the user interface.
The following snippet shows how a set of lessons from three
courses could be offered in a select
drop-down
widget:
<form action="courseselector.dll" method="get"> <p>Which course would you like to watch today? <p><label>Course: <select name="c"> <optgroup label="8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics"> <option value="8.01.1">Lecture 01: Powers of Ten <option value="8.01.2">Lecture 02: 1D Kinematics <option value="8.01.3">Lecture 03: Vectors <optgroup label="8.02 Electricity and Magnestism"> <option value="8.02.1">Lecture 01: What holds our world together? <option value="8.02.2">Lecture 02: Electric Field <option value="8.02.3">Lecture 03: Electric Flux <optgroup label="8.03 Physics III: Vibrations and Waves"> <option value="8.03.1">Lecture 01: Periodic Phenomenon <option value="8.03.2">Lecture 02: Beats <option value="8.03.3">Lecture 03: Forced Oscillations with Damping </select> </label> <p><input type=submit value="▶ Play"> </form>
option
elementselect
element.datalist
element.optgroup
element.disabled
label
selected
value
[NamedConstructor=Option(), NamedConstructor=Option(in DOMString text), NamedConstructor=Option(in DOMString text, in DOMString value), NamedConstructor=Option(in DOMString text, in DOMString value, in boolean defaultSelected), NamedConstructor=Option(in DOMString text, in DOMString value, in boolean defaultSelected, in boolean selected)] interface HTMLOptionElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean disabled; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute DOMString label; attribute boolean defaultSelected; attribute boolean selected; attribute DOMString value; attribute DOMString text; readonly attribute long index; };
The option
element represents an option
in a select
element or as part of a list of suggestions
in a datalist
element.
In certain circumstances described in the definition of the
select
element, an option
element can be a
select
element's placeholder label option.
A placeholder label option does not represent an actual
option, but instead represents a label for the select
control.
The disabled
attribute is a boolean attribute. An
option
element is disabled if its disabled
attribute is present or
if it is a child of an optgroup
element whose disabled
attribute is
present.
The label
attribute provides a label for element. The label of an option
element is the value of the label
attribute, if there is one,
or the textContent
of the element, if there isn't.
The value
attribute provides a value for element. The value of an option
element is the value of the value
attribute, if there is one,
or the textContent
of the element, if there isn't.
The selected
attribute is a boolean attribute. It represents the
default selectedness of the
element.
A select
element whose multiple
attribute is not
specified must not have more than one descendant option
element with its selected
attribute set.
selected
Returns true if the element is selected, and false otherwise.
Can be set, to override the current state of the element.
index
Returns the index of the element in its select
element's options
list.
form
Returns the element's form
element, if any, or
null otherwise.
text
Same as textContent
, except that spaces are collapsed.
Option
( [ text [, value [, defaultSelected [, selected ] ] ] ] )Returns a new option
element.
The text argument sets the contents of the element.
The value argument sets the value
attribute.
The defaultSelected argument sets the selected
attribute.
The selected argument sets whether or not the element is selected. If it is omitted, even if the defaultSelected argument is true, the element is not selected.
textarea
elementautofocus
cols
disabled
dirname
form
maxlength
name
placeholder
readonly
required
rows
wrap
interface HTMLTextAreaElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean autofocus; attribute unsigned long cols; attribute boolean disabled; attribute DOMString dirName; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute long maxLength; attribute DOMString name; attribute DOMString placeholder; attribute boolean readOnly; attribute boolean required; attribute unsigned long rows; attribute DOMString wrap; readonly attribute DOMString type; attribute DOMString defaultValue; attribute DOMString value; readonly attribute unsigned long textLength; readonly attribute boolean willValidate; readonly attribute ValidityState validity; readonly attribute DOMString validationMessage; boolean checkValidity(); void setCustomValidity(in DOMString error); readonly attribute NodeList labels; void select(); attribute unsigned long selectionStart; attribute unsigned long selectionEnd; void setSelectionRange(in unsigned long start, in unsigned long end); };
The textarea
element represents a
multiline plain text edit control. The contents of the control represent the
control's default value.
The readonly
attribute
is a boolean attribute used to control whether the text
can be edited by the user or not.
The cols
attribute specifies the expected maximum number of characters per
line. If the cols
attribute
is specified, its value must be a valid non-negative
integer greater than zero.
The rows
attribute specifies the number of lines to show. If the rows
attribute is specified, its
value must be a valid non-negative integer greater than
zero.
The wrap
attribute is an enumerated attribute with two keywords
and states: the soft
keyword
which maps to the Soft state, and the
hard
keyword
which maps to the Hard state. The
missing value default is the Soft state.
The Soft state
indicates that the text in the textarea
is not to be
wrapped when it is submitted (though it can still be wrapped in the
rendering).
The Hard state
indicates that the text in the textarea
is to have
newlines added by the user agent so that the text is wrapped when it
is submitted.
If the element's wrap
attribute is in the Hard state, the cols
attribute must be
specified.
The maxlength
attribute is a form control maxlength
attribute controlled by the
textarea
element's dirty value flag.
If the textarea
element has a maximum allowed
value length, then the element's children must be such that
the code-point length of the value of the element's
textContent
IDL attribute is equal to or less than the
element's maximum allowed value length.
The required
attribute
is a boolean attribute. When specified, the user will
be required to enter a value before submitting the form.
The placeholder
attribute represents a hint (a word or short phrase) intended to aid
the user with data entry. A hint could be a sample value or a brief
description of the expected format. The attribute, if specified,
must have a value that contains no U+000A LINE FEED (LF) or U+000D
CARRIAGE RETURN (CR) characters.
For a longer hint or other advisory text, the title
attribute is more appropriate.
The placeholder
attribute should not be used as an alternative to a
label
.
The dirname
attribute is a form control dirname
attribute.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the textarea
element with its
form owner. The name
attribute represents the element's name. The disabled
attribute is used to make
the control non-interactive and to prevent its value from being
submitted. The autofocus
attribute controls focus.
type
Returns the string "textarea
".
value
Returns the current value of the element.
Can be set, to change the value.
Here is an example of a textarea
being used for
unrestricted free-form text input in a form:
<p>If you have any comments, please let us know: <textarea cols=80 name=comments></textarea></p>
To specify that a maximum length for the comments, one can use
the maxlength
attribute:
<p>If you have any short comments, please let us know: <textarea cols=80 name=comments maxlength=200></textarea></p>
To give a default value, text can be included inside the element:
<p>If you have any comments, please let us know: <textarea cols=80 name=comments>You rock!</textarea></p>
To have the browser submit the directionality of
the element along with the value, the dirname
attribute can be
specified:
<p>If you have any comments, please let us know (you may use either English or Hebrew for your comments): <textarea cols=80 name=comments dirname=comments.dir></textarea></p>
keygen
elementautofocus
challenge
disabled
form
keytype
name
interface HTMLKeygenElement : HTMLElement { attribute boolean autofocus; attribute DOMString challenge; attribute boolean disabled; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute DOMString keytype; attribute DOMString name; readonly attribute DOMString type; readonly attribute boolean willValidate; readonly attribute ValidityState validity; readonly attribute DOMString validationMessage; boolean checkValidity(); void setCustomValidity(in DOMString error); readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The keygen
element represents a key
pair generator control. When the control's form is submitted, the
private key is stored in the local keystore, and the public key is
packaged and sent to the server.
The challenge
attribute
may be specified. Its value will be packaged with the submitted
key.
The keytype
attribute is an enumerated attribute. The following
table lists the keywords and states for the attribute — the
keywords in the left column map to the states listed in the cell in
the second column on the same row as the keyword. User agents are
not required to support these values, and must only recognize values
whose corresponding algorithms they support.
Keyword | State |
---|---|
rsa
| RSA |
The invalid value default state is the unknown state. The missing value default state is the RSA state, if it is supported, or the unknown state otherwise.
This specification does not specify what key types user agents are to support — it is possible for a user agent to not support any key types at all.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the keygen
element with its
form owner. The name
attribute represents the element's name. The disabled
attribute is used to make
the control non-interactive and to prevent its value from being
submitted. The autofocus
attribute controls focus.
type
Returns the string "keygen
".
This specification does not specify how the private
key generated is to be used. It is expected that after receiving the
SignedPublicKeyAndChallenge
(SPKAC) structure, the
server will generate a client certificate and offer it back to the
user for download; this certificate, once downloaded and stored in
the key store along with the private key, can then be used to
authenticate to services that use TLS and certificate
authentication.
To generate a key pair, add the private key to the user's key store, and submit the public key to the server, markup such as the following can be used:
<form action="processkey.cgi" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data"> <p><keygen name="key"></p> <p><input type=submit value="Submit key..."></p> </form>
The server will then receive a form submission with a packaged
RSA public key as the value of "key
". This
can then be used for various purposes, such as generating a client
certificate, as mentioned above.
output
elementfor
form
name
interface HTMLOutputElement : HTMLElement { [PutForwards=value] readonly attribute DOMSettableTokenList htmlFor; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; attribute DOMString name; readonly attribute DOMString type; attribute DOMString defaultValue; attribute DOMString value; readonly attribute boolean willValidate; readonly attribute ValidityState validity; readonly attribute DOMString validationMessage; boolean checkValidity(); void setCustomValidity(in DOMString error); readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The output
element represents the result of a
calculation.
The for
content
attribute allows an explicit relationship to be made between the
result of a calculation and the elements that represent the values
that went into the calculation or that otherwise influenced the
calculation. The for
attribute,
if specified, must contain a string consisting of an unordered
set of unique space-separated tokens that are
case-sensitive, each of which must have the value of an
ID of an element in the same
Document
.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the output
element with its
form owner. The name
attribute represents the element's name.
value
[ = value ]Returns the element's current value.
Can be set, to change the value.
defaultValue
[ = value ]Returns the element's current default value.
Can be set, to change the default value.
type
Returns the string "output
".
A simple calculator could use output
for its
display of calculated results:
<form onsubmit="return false"> <input name=a type=number step=any> + <input name=b type=number step=any> = <output onforminput="value = a.valueAsNumber + b.valueAsNumber"></output> </form>
progress
elementISSUE-96 (progress) blocks progress to Last Call
progress
element descendants.value
max
form
interface HTMLProgressElement : HTMLElement { attribute double value; attribute double max; readonly attribute double position; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The progress
element represents the
completion progress of a task. The progress is either indeterminate,
indicating that progress is being made but that it is not clear how
much more work remains to be done before the task is complete (e.g.
because the task is waiting for a remote host to respond), or the
progress is a number in the range zero to a maximum, giving the
fraction of work that has so far been completed.
There are two attributes that determine the current task
completion represented by the element. The value
attribute
specifies how much of the task has been completed, and the max
attribute specifies
how much work the task requires in total. The units are arbitrary
and not specified.
Authors are encouraged to also include the current value and the maximum value inline as text inside the element, so that the progress is made available to users of legacy user agents.
Here is a snippet of a Web application that shows the progress of some automated task:
<section> <h2>Task Progress</h2> <p>Progress: <progress id="p" max=100><span>0</span>%</progress></p> <script> var progressBar = document.getElementById('p'); function updateProgress(newValue) { progressBar.value = newValue; progressBar.getElementsByTagName('span')[0].textContent = newValue; } </script> </section>
(The updateProgress()
method in this example would
be called by some other code on the page to update the actual
progress bar as the task progressed.)
The value
and max
attributes, when present, must
have values that are valid
floating point numbers. The value
attribute, if present, must
have a value equal to or greater than zero, and less than or equal
to the value of the max
attribute, if present, or 1.0, otherwise. The max
attribute, if present, must
have a value greater than zero.
The progress
element is the wrong
element to use for something that is just a gauge, as opposed to
task progress. For instance, indicating disk space usage using
progress
would be inappropriate. Instead, the
meter
element is available for such use cases.
position
For a determinate progress bar (one with known current and maximum values), returns the result of dividing the current value by the maximum value.
For an indeterminate progress bar, returns −1.
meter
elementmeter
element descendants.value
min
max
low
high
optimum
form
interface HTMLMeterElement : HTMLElement { attribute double value; attribute double min; attribute double max; attribute double low; attribute double high; attribute double optimum; readonly attribute HTMLFormElement form; readonly attribute NodeList labels; };
The meter
element represents a scalar
measurement within a known range, or a fractional value; for example
disk usage, the relevance of a query result, or the fraction of a
voting population to have selected a particular candidate.
This is also known as a gauge.
The meter
element should not be used to
indicate progress (as in a progress bar). For that role, HTML
provides a separate progress
element.
The meter
element also does not
represent a scalar value of arbitrary range — for example, it
would be wrong to use this to report a weight, or height, unless
there is a known maximum value.
There are six attributes that determine the semantics of the gauge represented by the element.
The min
attribute
specifies the lower bound of the range, and the max
attribute specifies
the upper bound. The value
attribute
specifies the value to have the gauge indicate as the "measured"
value.
The other three attributes can be used to segment the gauge's
range into "low", "medium", and "high" parts, and to indicate which
part of the gauge is the "optimum" part. The low
attribute specifies
the range that is considered to be the "low" part, and the high
attribute specifies
the range that is considered to be the "high" part. The optimum
attribute
gives the position that is "optimum"; if that is higher than the
"high" value then this indicates that the higher the value, the
better; if it's lower than the "low" mark then it indicates that
lower values are better, and naturally if it is in between then it
indicates that neither high nor low values are good.
The value
attribute must be
specified. The value
, min
, low
, high
, max
, and optimum
attributes, when present,
must have values that are valid floating point numbers.
In addition, the attributes' values are further constrained:
Let value be the value
attribute's number.
If the min
attribute
attribute is specified, then let minimum be that
attribute's value; otherwise, let it be zero.
If the max
attribute
attribute is specified, then let maximum be that
attribute's value; otherwise, let it be 1.0.
The following inequalities must hold, as applicable:
low
≤ maximum (if low
is specified)high
≤ maximum (if high
is specified)optimum
≤ maximum (if optimum
is specified)low
≤ high
(if both low
and high
are specified)If no minimum or maximum is specified, then the range is assumed to be 0..1, and the value thus has to be within that range.
Authors are encouraged to include a textual representation of the
gauge's state in the element's contents, for users of user agents
that do not support the meter
element.
The following examples show three gauges that would all be three-quarters full:
Storage space usage: <meter value=6 max=8>6 blocks used (out of 8 total)</meter> Voter turnout: <meter value=0.75><img alt="75%" src="graph75.png"></meter> Tickets sold: <meter min="0" max="100" value="75"></meter>
The following example is incorrect use of the element, because it doesn't give a range (and since the default maximum is 1, both of the gauges would end up looking maxed out):
<p>The grapefruit pie had a radius of <meter value=12>12cm</meter> and a height of <meter value=2>2cm</meter>.</p> <!-- BAD! -->
Instead, one would either not include the meter element, or use the meter element with a defined range to give the dimensions in context compared to other pies:
<p>The grapefruit pie had a radius of 12cm and a height of 2cm.</p> <dl> <dt>Radius: <dd> <meter min=0 max=20 value=12>12cm</meter> <dt>Height: <dd> <meter min=0 max=10 value=2>2cm</meter> </dl>
There is no explicit way to specify units in the
meter
element, but the units may be specified in the
title
attribute in free-form text.
The example above could be extended to mention the units:
<dl> <dt>Radius: <dd> <meter min=0 max=20 value=12 title="centimeters">12cm</meter> <dt>Height: <dd> <meter min=0 max=10 value=2 title="centimeters">2cm</meter> </dl>
The following markup:
<h3>Suggested groups</h3> <menu type="toolbar"> <a href="?cmd=hsg" onclick="hideSuggestedGroups()">Hide suggested groups</a> </menu> <ul> <li> <p><a href="/group/comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets/view">comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets</a> - <a href="/group/comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets/subscribe">join</a></p> <p>Group description: <strong>Layout/presentation on the WWW.</strong></p> <p><meter value="0.5">Moderate activity,</meter> Usenet, 618 subscribers</p> </li> <li> <p><a href="/group/netscape.public.mozilla.xpinstall/view">netscape.public.mozilla.xpinstall</a> - <a href="/group/netscape.public.mozilla.xpinstall/subscribe">join</a></p> <p>Group description: <strong>Mozilla XPInstall discussion.</strong></p> <p><meter value="0.25">Low activity,</meter> Usenet, 22 subscribers</p> </li> <li> <p><a href="/group/mozilla.dev.general/view">mozilla.dev.general</a> - <a href="/group/mozilla.dev.general/subscribe">join</a></p> <p><meter value="0.25">Low activity,</meter> Usenet, 66 subscribers</p> </li> </ul>
Might be rendered as follows:
User agents combine the value of
the title
attribute and the other
attributes to provide context-sensitive help or inline text
detailing the actual values.
For example, the following snippet:
<meter min=0 max=60 value=23.2 title=seconds></meter>
...might cause the user agent to display a gauge with a tooltip saying "Value: 23.2 out of 60." on one line and "seconds" on a second line.
The form
attribute is used to
explicitly associate the meter
element with its
form owner.
The following example shows how a gauge could fall back to localized or pretty-printed text.
<p>Disk usage: <meter min=0 value=170261928 max=233257824>170 261 928 bytes used out of 233 257 824 bytes available</meter></p>