Attribute for <SELECT ...>
TABINDEX =integer

Usage Recommendation
Use it, but don't rely on it.

TABINDEX is supported by MSIE 4.x and higher and Netscape 6.

Normally, when the user tabs from field to field in a form (in a browser that allows tabbing, not all browsers do) the tab order is the order the fields appear in the HTML code.

However, sometimes you want the tab order to flow a little differently. In that case, you can number the fields using TABINDEX. The tabs then flow in order from lowest TABINDEX to highest.

This code:

<TABLE BORDER CELLPADDING=3 CELLSPACING=5 BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC">
<TR>
 <TD>name: <INPUT NAME="realname" TABINDEX=1></TD>
 <TD ROWSPAN=3>comments<BR>
 <TEXTAREA COLS=25 ROWS=5TABINDEX=4></TEXTAREA></TD></TR>
<TR> <TD>email: <INPUT NAME="email" TABINDEX=2></TD></TR>
<TR> <TD>department: <SELECT NAME="dep" TABINDEX=3>
 <OPTION VALUE="">...
 <OPTION VALUE="mkt">Marketing
 <OPTION VALUE="fin">Finance
 <OPTION VALUE="dev">Development
 <OPTION VALUE="prd">Production</SELECT></TD></TR>
</TABLE>

produces this form:

TABINDEX can also be used with <A ...>, <INPUT ...>, <TEXTAREA ...>, and <BUTTON ...>.

<SELECT onFocus="..."> >>>