isindex (HTML element)
| Depr. | Empty | Version |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | HTML 2 |
| IE5.5+ | FF1+ | SA1.3+ | OP9.2+ | CH2+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
Syntax
Description
The isindex
element is a deprecated and poorly supported method for providing a
searchable index related to the current document. There’s not much to say
about this element, given the current lack of support for
it.
Originally, it was intended (by the W3C) that the
isindex element should be placed inside the head of the document, but most
browsers were somewhat lax and allowed it to be used anywhere in the
document.
There are three attributes that you may see used with this
element (but only prompt is defined by W3C and
therefore valid):
action, which identifies the URL of the script that will process the searchhref, an older implementation that was used beforeactionwas supported by browsersprompt, to provide prompt text that appears next to search input
Example
This example shows an index prompt
contained in the head element:
<head> ⋮ <isindex prompt="Search document ..." href="search-index.txt"/> ⋮ </head>
Use This for…
There are better mechanisms,
with better browser support, than the isindex element.
This entry is included for the sake of completeness, in case you should
ever come across the element and require information about
it.
Compatibility
| Internet Explorer | Firefox | Safari | Opera | Chrome | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 9.2 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 2.0 |
| Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
This attribute is poorly supported and has limited practical value.
All browsers are showing as having partial
support, but Opera was the only one that did not show the search area when
the isindex element was included inside the
head; outside of the head element,
all browsers showed the search input.
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