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HTML HTML Forms Fieldsets and Labels

Posted by spalak
spalak
12,151 Points

Names vs IDs

I can see why IDs are helpful (here adding a label, and I assume server-side actions will also use the ID). However, what is the purpose of the "name"? It seems like it's redundant with the ID.

2 Answers

Blayne Holland
Blayne Holland
19,321 Points
Blayne Holland
Blayne Holland
19,321 Points

I can't really give you a detail answer but I find name attributes particularly useful when working with PHP. The name attribute is used to help identify form elements when submitting the form using POST.

Jack Weldon
Jack Weldon
1,708 Points
Jack Weldon
Jack Weldon
1,708 Points

The name attribute serves two purposes - it's used for servers to identify the form/field and it can help add context to your code when looking through it. IDs are used within the HTML document for various functions such as links, for example.