Common Attributes
Overview​
The are a number of common attributes found on elements. Microsoft in particular introduced a number of new proprietary attributes starting with the Internet Explorer 4 browser. Recently, with the introduction of Internet Explorer 8, proprietary features have become less common. Interestingly, many of these features are supported by other browsers, given the desire of their developers to emulate IE, the currently most popular browser. The attributes continue to be supported and, in some cases, such as contenteditable, have approached de facto standard and in some cases attributes have become part of HTML5. Given their ubiquity, these attributes are summarized here to avoid redundancy when presenting the various elements.
Accesskey​
Microsoft applied this W3C attribute to a wider variety of elements than form elements. The accesskey attribute specifies a keyboard navigation accelerator for the element. Pressing ALT or a similar key (depending on the browser and operating system) in association with the specified key selects the anchor element correlated with that key. If access keys are employed, Web page authors are cautioned to be aware of predefined key bindings in the browsing environment, a sampling of which is detailed in below Table.
Note
If you take into consideration some older and esoteric browsers, there are even more preset keys to avoid.
| Key | Binding |
|---|---|
| F | File Menu |
| E | Edit menu |
| V | View menu |
| G | Widgets menu (Opera), older Mozilla Go menu |
| I | History menu (Safari) |
| B | Bookmarks menu (Mozilla, Safari) |
| A | Favorites menu (Internet Explorer) |
| T | Tools or Tasks menu |
| S | History or Search menu depending on browser |
| W | Window menu (Safari and older Mozilla) |
| A | Favorites menu (Internet Explorer only) |
| H | Help menu |
Align​
Many browsers define the align attribute on elements. Transitional versions of (X)HTML
do as well. This attribute generally takes a value of left, right, or center, which
determines how the element and its contents are positioned in a table or the window. The
value of left is usually the default. In some cases, a value of justify is also supported.
CSS properties like text-align and margin should be used instead of this attribute when
possible.
Contenteditable​
This proprietary Microsoft attribute, now part of the HTML5 specification, allows users to directly edit content in a browser. Values are false, true, and inherit. A value of false prevents content from being edited by users; true allows editing. The default value, inherit, applies the value of the affected element’s parent element. In addition to Internet Explorer, all recent major browsers, such as Firefox 3+, Safari 3+, and Opera 9.5+, also support this attribute.
| Access Key | Suggested Destination |
|---|---|
| S | Skip navigation |
| 1 | Home page |
| 2 | What’s new |
| 3 | Site map |
| 4 | Search |
| 5 | Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) |
| 6 | Help |
| 7 | Complaints procedure |
| 8 | Terms and conditions |
| 9 | Feedback form |
| 0 | Access key details (information on these and other keys plus usage) |
Datafld​
This attribute specifies the column name from the data source object that supplies the bound data. This attribute is specific to Microsoft’s data binding.
Dataformatas​
This Internet Explorer–specific attribute indicates whether the bound data is plain text or HTML.
Datasrc​
This attribute indicates the name of the data source object that supplies the data that is bound to this element. This attribute is specific to Microsoft’s data binding.
Disabled​
Again, Microsoft has applied an existing W3C attribute to a range of elements not associated with it in the W3C specifications. Elements with the disabled attribute set may appear faded and will not respond to user input. Values under the Microsoft implementation are true and false. When the attribute is present, the default value is true, so IE 5.5 and higher will read disabled as “on,” even without a value set for the attribute.
Height​
This attribute specifies the height, in pixels, needed by an embedded object, image, iframe, applet, or any other embeddable item.
Hidefocus​
This proprietary attribute, introduced with Internet Explorer 5.5, hides focus on an element’s content. Focus will generally be represented with a dotted outline, but elements with this attribute set to true will not show such an indication.
Hspace​
This attribute specifies additional horizontal space, in pixels, to be reserved on either side of an embedded item like an iframe, applet, image, and so on.
Language​
In the Microsoft implementation, this attribute specifies the scripting language to be used with an associated script bound to the element, typically through an event handler attribute. Possible values might include javascript, jscript, vbs, and vbscript. Other values that include the version of the language used, such as JavaScript1.1, might also be possible. The reason this feature is supported is that it is possible in Internet Explorer to run multiple script languages at the same time, which requires that you indicate on element-level event handlers which scripting language is in play, as demonstrated here:
<p onclick="alert('Hi from JavaScript');" language="JavaScript">
Click me (JavaScript)</p>
<p onclick="MsgBox('Hi from VBScript')" language="VBScript">
Click me (VBScript)</p>
Tabindex​
This attribute uses a number to identify the object’s position in the tabbing order for keyboard navigation using the TAB key. While tabindex is defined for some elements as part of W3C standards, IE 5.5 added support for this attribute to a wider range of elements. Under IE 5.5 or higher, this focus can be disabled with the hidefocus attribute.
Unselectable​
This proprietary Microsoft attribute can be used to prevent content displayed from being selected. Testing suggests that this might not work consistently. Values are off (selection permitted) and on (selection not allowed).
Vspace​
This attribute specifies additional vertical space, in pixels, to be reserved above and below an embedded object, image, iframe, applet, or any other embeddable item.
Width​
This attribute specifies the width, in pixels, needed by an embedded object, image, iframe, applet, or any other embeddable item.