HTML Controls

A control is a user interface element that causes some action to occur (a button, e.g.), modifies a parameter or option (a checkbox, e.g.), or sets a data item (text field, e.g.). HTML provides the following controls:

Text field

Name: 

Text area

Other relevant experience:

Check boxes

ElectricAlias
InternetConfig

Radio buttons

Macintosh Platform:   PowerPC  68K

Pop-up menu

Scrollable list

Buttons

  


From the developer's point of view, HTML controls may be handled by a client-side scripting language (such as JavaScript or Visual Basic) or server-side programs (such as C executables or interpreted scripts written in Perl or Tcl) or both. For example, a client-side script may perform routine calculations and data validation while a script on the server maintains a database.

More complicated user interfaces may be implemented with Java, which provides all of the above HTML controls plus scrollbars and pull-down menus. Java also makes it possible to monitor and respond to arbitrary mouse actions such as pointing, clicking, double-clicking, pressing, and dragging.

Other elements of a typical graphical user interface include cursors (or pointers), icons, and keyboard shortcuts.