<input type="image">

<input> elements of type "image" are used to create graphical submit buttons, i.e. submit buttons that take the form of an image rather than text.

<input id="image" type="image" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdn/learning-area/master/html/forms/image-type-example/login.png">

Value

<input type="image"> elements do not accept value attributes. The path to the image to be displayed is specified in the src atribute.

Using image inputs

The <input type="image"> element is a replaced element (an element whose content isn't generated or directly managed by the CSS layer), behaving in much the same way as a regular <img> element, but with the capabilities of a submit button.

Essential image input features

Let's look at a basic example that includes all the essential features you'd need to use (These work exactly the same as they do on the <img> element.):

<input id="image" type="image" width="100" height="30" alt="Login"
       src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdn/learning-area/master/html/forms/image-type-example/login.png">

• The src attribute is used to specify the path to the image you want to display in the button.
• The alt attribute provides alt text for the image, so screen reader users can get a better idea of what the button is used for. It will also display if the image can't be shown for any reason (for example if the path is misspelled). If possible, use text which matches the label you'd use if you were using a standard submit button.
• The width and height attributes are used to specify the width and height the image should be shown at, in pixels. The button is the same size as the image; if you need the button's hit area to be bigger than the image, you will need to use CSS (e.g. padding). Also, if you specify only one dimension, the other is automatically adjusted so that the image maintains its original aspect ratio.

Overriding default form behaviors

<input type="image"> elements — like regular submit buttons — can accept a number of attributes that override the default form behavior:

formaction HTML5

The URI of a program that processes the information submitted by the input element; overrides the action attribute of the element's form owner.

formenctype HTML5

Specifies the type of content that is used to submit the form to the server. Possible values are:

• application/x-www-form-urlencoded: The default value if the attribute is not specified.
• text/plain.

If this attribute is specified, it overrides the enctype attribute of the element's form owner.

formmethod HTML5

Specifies the HTTP method that the browser uses to submit the form. Possible values are:

• post: The data from the form is included in the body of the form and is sent to the server.
• get: The data from the form is appended to the form attribute URI, with a '?' as a separator, and the resulting URI is sent to the server. Use this method when the form has no side-effects and contains only ASCII characters.

If specified, this attribute overrides the method attribute of the element's form owner.

formnovalidate HTML5

A Boolean attribute specifying that the form is not to be validated when it is submitted. If this attribute is specified, it overrides the novalidate attribute of the element's form owner.

formtarget HTML5

A name or keyword indicating where to display the response that is received after submitting the form. This is a name of, or keyword for, a browsing context (for example, tab, window, or inline frame). If this attribute is specified, it overrides the target attribute of the element's form owner. The following keywords have special meanings:

• _self: Load the response into the same browsing context as the current one. This value is the default if the attribute is not specified.
• _blank: Load the response into a new unnamed browsing context.
• _parent: Load the response into the parent browsing context of the current one. If there is no parent, this option behaves the same way as _self.
• _top: Load the response into the top-level browsing context (that is, the browsing context that is an ancestor of the current one, and has no parent). If there is no parent, this option behaves the same as _self.

Using the x and y data points

When you submit a form using a button created with <input type="image">, two extra data points are submitted to the server automatically by the browser — x and y. You can see this in action in our X Y coordinates example.

When you click on the image to submit the form, you'll see the data appended to the URL as parameters, for example "?x=52&y=55". If the image input has a name attribute, then keep in mind that the specified name is prefixed on every attribute, so if the name is "position", then the returned coordinates would be formatted in the URL as "?position.x=52&position.y=55". This, of course, applies to all other attributes as well.

These are the X and Y coordinates of the image that the mouse clicked on to submit the form, where (0,0) is the top-left of the image. These can be used when the position the image was clicked on is significant, for example you might have a map that when clicked, sends the coordinates that were clicked to the server. The server-side code then works out what location was clicked on, and returns information about places nearby.

In our above example, we could write server-side code that works out what color was clicked on by the coordinates submitted, and keeps a tally of the favorite colors people voted for.

Examples

The following example shows the same button as before, but included in the context of a typical login form.

The HTML looks like this:

<form>
  <p>Login to your account</p>
  <div>
    <label for="userId">User ID</label>
    <input type="text" id="userId" name="userId">
  </div>
  <div>
    <label for="pwd">Password</label>
    <input type="password" id="pwd" name="pwd">
  </div>
  <div>
    <input id="image" type="image" src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mdn/learning-area/master/html/forms/image-type-example/login.png" alt="Login" width="100">
  </div>
</form>

And now some simple CSS to make the basic elements sit more neatly:

div {
  margin-bottom: 10px;
}
label {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 70px;
  text-align: right;
  padding-right: 10px;
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• <input> and the HTMLInputElement interface which implements it.