HTML Textarea — Multi-Line Text Input Reference

<form action="https://splitforms.com/api/submit" method="POST">
  <input type="hidden" name="access_key" value="YOUR_ACCESS_KEY" />

  <label>Email<input name="email" type="email" required /></label>

  <!-- Basic textarea -->
  <label>
    Message
    <textarea name="message" rows="5" required></textarea>
  </label>

  <!-- Textarea with max length and char counter -->
  <label>
    Bio (max 500 chars)
    <textarea name="bio" rows="4" maxlength="500"
              placeholder="Tell us about yourself…"></textarea>
  </label>

  <!-- Locked resize, fixed size -->
  <label>
    Notes
    <textarea name="notes" rows="3"
              style="resize: vertical; min-height: 80px; max-height: 200px;"></textarea>
  </label>

  <button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>

The HTML `<textarea>` element is a multi-line text input. Unlike `<input>`, it doesn't take a `type` attribute — `<textarea>` is its own element. The visible size is controlled by the `rows` and `cols` attributes (or by CSS height/width). The text content is the textarea's value — there's no `value` attribute; the value goes between the opening and closing tags.

Common attributes: `rows` (visible row count), `cols` (visible columns — usually ignored in favor of CSS width), `maxlength` (max character count, enforced natively), `required` (mandatory field), `placeholder` (hint text). The `wrap` attribute controls how line breaks are handled on submission — `soft` (default, no line breaks added) or `hard` (line breaks inserted at visible wrap points).

CSS `resize` controls whether the user can drag-resize the textarea. `resize: none` locks the size; `resize: vertical` allows vertical resizing only (recommended — horizontal resizing breaks page layout); `resize: both` is the default but rarely desirable.

Native textareas are accessible by default when paired with a `<label>`. Add a character counter for `maxlength`-restricted textareas — about 8 lines of JS that listens for `input` events and updates a `<span>` with `textarea.value.length / maxlength`. Don't write a custom textarea component; native is fine.

<textarea>, not <input type=textarea>. Lock horizontal resize. Maxlength for caps.