Description
The fieldset is a useful tool for organizing and grouping related items within a form, and has been used for a long time in desktop applications. When it’s combined with the legend (which is contained inside the fieldset, and is a required element if you use the fieldset), it has the effect of creating a box around the grouped items and showing a description to the right of each item, as shown below.
It’s also possible to nest fieldsets as a means to subgroup items, as shown here:
Example
This fieldset element is used to group three related XFN attributes (see the Microformats section regarding XFN):
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Friendship</legend>
<input type="radio" name="radFriendship" value="Not_Applicable"
id="radFriendNot_Applicable"/>
<label for="radFriendNot_Applicable">Not_Applicable</label>
<input type="radio" name="radFriendship" value="acquaintance"
id="radFriendaquaintence"/>
<label for="radFriendaquaintence">acquaintance</label>
<input type="radio" name="radFriendship" value="friend"
id="radFriendfriend"/>
<label for="radFriendfriend">friend</label>
</fieldset>
⋮
</form>
Use This For…
The fieldset attribute is used to logically group data items that share some characteristics. For example, you may wrap a fieldset around personal details, and another around work details, when capturing information about a visitor in an application form.
