HTML 4 textarea Tag
Also see HTML5 <textarea>
Tag.
This page contains information about the HTML 4 version of this element. For a more up to date version, see HTML5 <textarea>
Tag.
The HTML <textarea>
tag is used within a form to declare a textarea element - a control that allows the user to input text over multiple rows.
Also see the <form>
tag.
Example
The above code produces the following input controls:
Attributes
Attributes specific to this tag: | |
---|---|
Attribute | Description |
name | Assigns a name to the input control. |
rows | Specifies the height of the textarea based on the number of visible lines of text. If there's more text than this allows, users can scroll using the textarea's scrollbars. |
cols | Specifies the width of the textarea based on the number of visible character widths. |
Other Attributes: | |
Attribute | Description |
class | Document wide identifier. |
id | Document wide identifier |
dir | Specifies the direction of the text |
lang | Language code |
title | Specifies a title to associate with the element. Many browsers will display this when the cursor hovers over the element (similar to a "tool tip"). |
style | Inline style (CSS) |
readonly | Sets the textarea to read-only - it won't allow the user to change the value. The textarea however, can receive focus and is included when tabbing through the form controls. |
disabled | Disables the input control. The button won't accept changes from the user. It also cannot receive focus and will be skipped when tabbing. |
tabindex | Helps determine the tabbing order (when the user 'tabs' through the elements on the page). |
onfocus | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onblur | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onselect | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onchange | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onclick | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
ondbclick | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onmousedown | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onmouseup | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onmouseover | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onmousemove | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onmouseout | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onkeypress | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onkeydown | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
onkeyup | Intrinsic event (see event handlers) |
HTML5 Tags
The information on this page is based on HTML version 4.01. Most modern browsers now support HTML5, which is the next version of HTML after HTML 4.01.
See HTML5 <textarea>
Tag for the HTML5 version of the above element.
Also see this list of HTML 5 tags for the latest version of HTML.