Web Explained
A Hidden Form Field Is Hidden from the Layout, Not from the Visitor
A form can carry a value that has no visible box on the page. That can help preserve context, but it should not be mistaken for a place where information…
Everyday technology, a little clearer
Web Explained
Plain-language explanations for the web’s less obvious behaviour.
Web Explained
A Form Button Can Submit Even When Its Label Says Something Else
A button labelled “Show example” may look like a harmless helper, yet unexpectedly submit the surrounding form. The visible words describe an intention; the…
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 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.
Web Explained
A Date on a Webpage Can Have a Separate Machine-Readable Value
A webpage can display “9 October” while marking the date in its underlying HTML as 2026-10-09. The visible wording and the structured value serve different…
Web Explained
A Datalist Offers Suggestions Without Necessarily Restricting the Answer
A text field may offer a small list as you type and still accept a value absent from that list. Suggestions and enforced choices are different interface…
Web Explained
Turning Spellcheck On Does Not Guarantee Every Browser Will Check the Text
A red underline can be helpful, but its absence does not prove that a word is correct. Spellchecking depends on the editing context, browser support,…
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…