Attribute for <INPUT ...>
TABINDEX = integer

Usage Recommendation
use it, but don't rely on it

Please note: TABINDEX is supported by MSIE 4.x and higher and Netscape 6.

normal tab order: the order the fields appear in HTMLNormally, when the user tabs from field to field in a form (in a browser that allows tabbing, not all browsers do) the order is the order the fields appear in the HTML code.

with TABINDEX, tab order is anything you likeHowever, sometimes you want the tab order to flow a little differently. In that case, you can number the fields using TABINDEX. The tabs then flow in order from lowest TABINDEX to highest.

This code:

<FORM ACTION="../cgi-bin/mycgi.pl" METHOD=POST>
<TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING=3 CELLSPACING=5 BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC">
<TR>
<TD>name: <INPUT NAME="realname" TABINDEX=1></TD>
<TD ROWSPAN=3>comments<BR>
<TEXTAREA COLS=25 ROWS=5 TABINDEX=4></TEXTAREA></TD></TR>
<TR> <TD>email: <INPUT NAME="email" TABINDEX=2></TD></TR>
<TR> <TD>department: <SELECT NAME="dep" TABINDEX=3>
<OPTION VALUE="">...
<OPTION VALUE="mkt">Marketing
<OPTION VALUE="fin">Finance
<OPTION VALUE="dev">Development
<OPTION VALUE="prd">Production</SELECT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</FORM>

produces this form:

name: comments
email:
department:

TABINDEX can also be used with <A ...>, <TEXTAREA ...>, <SELECT ...>, and <BUTTON ...>.





About the Author
Copyright 1997-2002 Idocs Inc. Content in this guide is offered freely to the public under the terms of the Open Content License and the Open Publication License. Contents may be redistributed or republished freely under these terms so long as credit to the original creator and contributors is maintained.