EXAMPLES OF FORM CONTROLS USED
IN HTML, DOC, XLS, AND PDF FORMATS

1. Text Box and Text Area* The customer types the data in the box.

Some of the options are height, width, border of the box; scrolling, multi-line, text size, font, color.  (Webpages can have both text boxes and text areas, each with different capabilities.)
2. Check Box The customer can select all options.

Orange   Blue  Green

Item(s) can be selected by default.
3. Option (Radio)Button The customer can select only one option. 

Orange    Blue    Green

An item can be selected by default.
4. Combo Box (aka Drop-Down Menu) The customer can view the options in a drop-down/pop-up menu.

 

In a combo box, the box is a single line that expands when clicked. By default, the width of the box is determined by the width of the longest item. The directions can be the first item, i.e., Select one.
5. Button The customer can click a button to initiate a specific action, usually Submit, Reset, Print, Save.

See examples below.

If the information in the form is to be submitted online, a button is provided.  The words and the formatting of a button command can be changed. i.e., Reset can be changed to Clear FormNOTE:  The Submit button below does not work!
* Some options are not available in some applications.  Form components are inserted in different ways and look different in doc, xls, html, and pdf formats.  This overview is a generalization and has exceptions.

Page Changed 01/30/2008