9.8.1. The <select> Tag

<select> Function: Create single- and multiple-choice menus Attributes: CLASS ONKEYPRESS DIR ONKEYUP DISABLED ONMOUSEDOWN ID ONMOUSEMOVE LANG ONMOUSEOUT MULTIPLE ONMOUSEOVER NAME ONMOUSEUP ONBLUR SIZE ONCHANGE STYLE ONCLICK TABINDEX ONDBLCLICK TITLE ONFOCUS ONKEYDOWN End tag: </select>; never omitted Contains: select_content Used in: form_content

As with other form tags, the name attribute is required and used by the browser when submitting the <select> choices to the server. Unlike radio buttons, no item is preselected, so if none is selected, no values are sent to the server when the form is submitted. Otherwise, the browser submits the selected item or collects multiple selections, separated with commas, into a single parameter list and includes the name attribute when submitting <select> form data to the server.

9.8.2. The <option> Tag

<option> Function: Define available options within a <select> menu Attributes: CLASS ONMOUSEDOWN DIR ONMOUSEMOVE DISABLED ONMOUSEOUT ID ONMOUSEOVER LABEL ONMOUSEUP LANG SELECTED ONCLICK STYLE ONDBLCLICK TITLE ONKEYDOWN VALUE ONKEYPRESS ONKEYUP End tag: </option>; usually omitted in HTML Contains: plain_text Used in: select_content

The browser displays the <option> tag's contents as an element within the <select> tag's menu or scrolling list, so the content must be plain text only, without any other sort of markup.

9.8.3. The <optgroup> Tag

Use the <optgroup> tag only within a <select> tag, and it may only contain <option> tags. The browser creates submenus for each <optgroup> tag within the main <select> menu. For example, with HTML you might use <optgroup> to present a form menu of states organized by region:

<select name=state>
   <optgroup label=Northeast>
      <option>Maine
      <option>New Hampshire
      ...
   </optgroup>
   <optgroup label=South>
      <option>Georgia
      <option>Florida
      ...
   </optgroup>
   ...
</select>

Since no browser yet fully supports the <optgroup> tag (the popular browsers simply display them as a scrolling menu), we can't show you what this menu might look like. However, it will probably look and feel much like the familiar pull-down menus that are a common feature of most graphical user interfaces. When selected with the mouse or keyboard, the optgroup opens into one or more menus. For instance, our "state" example probably will have submenus labeled "Northeast," "South," and so on, each of which can be pulled open to reveal a list of included states.

Regrettably, the biggest drawback to the <optgroup> tag is that it cannot be nested, limiting you to one level of submenus. Presumably this restriction will be lifted in a future version of XHTML.

<optgroup> Function: Group related <option> elements within a <select> menu Attributes: CLASS ONKEYUP DIR ONMOUSEDOWN DISABLED ONMOUSEMOVE ID ONMOUSEOUT LABEL ONMOUSEOVER LANG ONMOUSEUP ONCLICK STYLE ONDBLCLICK TITLE ONKEYDOWN ONKEYPRESS End tag: </optgroup>; may be omitted in HTML Contains: optgroup_contents Used in: select_content