The <button> Tag
As we described earlier, you create an action button with standard
HTML or XHTML by including its type
value in the standard <input>
tag. For instance, the <input
type=submit>
form control creates a button that, when
selected by the user, tells the browser to send the form’s contents to
the processing server or to an email address (the mailto
option). Display-wise, you don’t have
any direct control over what that submit button looks like, beyond
changing the default label “Submit” to some other word or short phrase
(e.g., “Hit me” or “Outta here!”).
First introduced in the HTML 4.0 standard, the <button>
tag acts the same as <input>
, but it gives you more control
over how the browser displays the element. In particular, all of the
attributes you might use with the <input
type=button>
element are acceptable with the <button>
tag.
The <button> Button
Neither the HTML 4 nor the XHTML standard is overly clear as to
what display enhancements to a form the <button>
element should provide, other than to suggest that the contents should be 3D and visually appear to react like a push button ...
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