Web Explained
A Read-Only Form Field Can Still Submit a Value
A field you cannot edit may be read-only or disabled, and those states have different effects. Looking grey is not enough to identify which rule the form uses.
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Web Explained
A Progress Bar and a Capacity Meter Can Look Similar but Mean Different Things
A bar showing a download at sixty percent describes work moving towards completion. A bar showing a container sixty percent full describes a measurement…
Web Explained
A mailto link opens a draft; it does not send the message for you
Clicking an email address on a website can open a mail application with the recipient already filled in. This is commonly done with a mailto link. The…
Web Explained
A number field can reject a decimal because its step is set to whole numbers
You enter 2.5 into a form and the browser says the value is invalid. The problem may be the permitted step, not your ability to type a decimal. Numeric…
Web Explained
Checkboxes and radio buttons ask different kinds of questions
A form with several small controls may look straightforward, but the control type can change what an answer means. Checkboxes commonly allow independent…
Web Explained
The hash at the end of a link often points inside the page
A link ending in #ingredients may be trying to take you to a section of a page. The portion after the hash is called a fragment. Understanding it helps…
Web Explained
A 204 response can mean the save worked even though no page came back
An empty response is not always a failed request. HTTP status 204 means the server successfully handled the request and has no response content to return.…
Web Explained
A Form Label Can Do More Than Sit Beside an Input
A visible word beside a checkbox may look like a label without being connected to the control. In HTML, that relationship can be made explicit so the text…