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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/strict.dtd">
<html lang=en>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>OPTGROUP - Option Group</title>
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<meta name="description" content="A description of HTML 4.0's OPTGROUP element for option groups in a select menu.">
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<h2><img src="../wdglogo1.gif" width=250 height=83 alt="The Web Design Group"></h2>
<h1>OPTGROUP - Option Group</h1>
<table>
<tr valign=top>
<th>Syntax</th>
<td><strong class=required><OPTGROUP></strong>...<strong class=required></OPTGROUP></strong></td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<th>Attribute Specifications</th>
<td>
<ul>
<li><strong class=required>LABEL=<var><a href="../values.html#text">Text</a></var> (group label)</strong></li>
<li>DISABLED (disable group of choices)</li>
<li><a href="../attrs.html">common attributes</a></li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<th>Contents</th>
<td>One or more <a href="option.html">OPTION</a> elements</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<th>Contained in</th>
<td><a href="select.html">SELECT</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>The <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> element defines a <em>group of choices</em> within a <strong class=html><a href="select.html">SELECT</a></strong> menu. <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> must contain one or more <strong class=html><a href="option.html">OPTION</a></strong> elements to define the actual choices.</p>
<p>The required <strong class=html>LABEL</strong> attribute specifies the group label presented to the user. The <strong class=html>LABEL</strong> should describe the group of choices available through the <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong>'s <strong class=html>OPTION</strong>s. Each <strong class=html>OPTION</strong> generally uses a <strong class=html>LABEL</strong> attribute as well to provide a shortened label that, together with the <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong>'s <strong class=html>LABEL</strong>, gives a complete description of the option. An example follows:</p>
<pre class=example><code class=html><P>Which Web browser do you use most often?
<SELECT NAME=browser>
<OPTGROUP LABEL="Netscape Navigator">
<OPTION LABEL="4.x or higher">
Netscape Navigator 4.x or higher
</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="3.x">Netscape Navigator 3.x</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="2.x">Netscape Navigator 2.x</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="1.x">Netscape Navigator 1.x</OPTION>
</OPTGROUP>
<OPTGROUP LABEL="Microsoft Internet Explorer">
<OPTION LABEL="4.x or higher">
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x or higher
</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="3.x">Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="2.x">Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.x</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="1.x">Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.x</OPTION>
</OPTGROUP>
<OPTGROUP LABEL="Opera">
<OPTION LABEL="3.x or higher">Opera 3.x or higher</OPTION>
<OPTION LABEL="2.x">Opera 2.x</OPTION>
</OPTGROUP>
<OPTION>Other</OPTION>
</SELECT>
</P></code></pre>
<p><strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> is not well supported by current browsers, but its design allows authors to use it today without sacrificing compatibility with non-supporting browsers. Supporting browsers will render the preceding example using the <strong class=html>LABEL</strong> attribute of <strong class=html>OPTION</strong> to provide just the version number, along with the <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong>'s <strong class=html>LABEL</strong>, which gives the full name of the application. This allows a compact display with easy-to-use cascading menus.</p>
<p>Non-supporting browsers will ignore the <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> elements and <strong class=html>LABEL</strong> attributes, providing the full name and version for each choice. Thus authors can fully use <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> despite its lack of browser support.</p>
<p class=note>Note that, in HTML4.0, <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong> is limited to containing only <strong class=html>OPTION</strong> elements, thus preventing nested <strong class=html>OPTGROUP</strong>s with multi-level cascades. Future versions of <abbr class=initialism title="HyperText Markup Language">HTML</abbr> may add support for nested option groups.</p>
<p>The boolean <strong class=html>DISABLED</strong> attribute makes the option group unavailable. The options of a disabled option group cannot be selected by the user and are never submitted with the form.</p>
<h2>More Information</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/interact/forms.html#edef-OPTGROUP">OPTGROUP in <abbr class=initialism title="World Wide Web Consortium">W3C</abbr> HTML4.0 Recommendation</a></li>
</ul>
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<address>Maintained by <a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/%7Eliam/">Liam Quinn</a> <<a href="mailto:liam@htmlhelp.com">liam@htmlhelp.com</a>></address>
<p class=toolbar><img src="../wdglogo-small.gif" width=105 height=40 alt="Web Design Group ~"> <a href="../index.html" rel=Start>HTML4.0Reference</a>~ <a href="../olist.html">ElementsbyFunction</a>~ <a href="../alist.html">ElementsAlphabetically</a></p>
<p class=copyright>Copyright © 1998 by <a href="http://www.htmlhelp.com/%7Eliam/">Liam Quinn</a>. This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at <a href="http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/">http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/</a>).</p>
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