Setting up inactive form elements

To give viewers access to form elements only in specific situations, HTML 4.0 lets you build HTML forms with dimmed elements that can be conditionally activated by a script. On the HTML side, you add a "disabled" attribute to each form element that should be unavailable when a viewer loads the form. On the scripting side, the program monitors elements of another form for a particular event and activates the item when the condition is met. For example, this feature lets you keep a form's Submit button inactive until viewers enter some required data.

Legends, labels, text fields, password fields, text areas, Submit buttons, Reset buttons, check boxes, and radio buttons support the inactive status.

To disable an element:

1 In the document window, select the element you want to deactivate.

2 Select Disabled in the Inspector.

3 Write the script to implement the logic that dynamically enables the item, and attach the script to the page or to another button.

Creating Forms > Setting up inactive form elements