Build an address form that follows best practice

Create a form that makes it as easy as possible for users to enter address data on desktop and mobile. Ensure the form makes the most of built-in browser features for autofill, validation and data entry constraints.

How to implement

Outlined below are the most important guidelines for building successful address forms.

Use meaningful, valid HTML

Make the most of the elements and attributes built for creating forms:

• <form>, <input>, <label>, and <button>
• type, autocomplete, and inputmode

These enable built-in browser functionality, improve accessibility, and add meaning to markup.

Use the <label> element to label form fields for data entry

To label an <input>, <select>, or <textarea>, use a <label>. Associate a label with an input by giving the label's for attribute the same value as the input's id.

Make the most of HTML attributes

Make it easy for users to enter data, by using the appropriate <input> element with a type attribute to provide the right keyboard on mobile and enable basic built-in validation by the browser.

Always use type="email" for email addresses and type="tel" for phone numbers.

<!-- type="email"/"tel" gives mobile users the right keyboard and enables built-in validation --><input type="email" id="email" name="email" autocomplete="email" required><input type="tel" id="phone" name="phone" autocomplete="tel">

Every <input>, <select>, and <textarea> element SHOULD have an appropriate autocomplete attribute, to improve accessibility and help users avoid re-entering data.

Make buttons helpful

Use <button> for buttons. You can also use <input type="submit">, but don't use a div or some other random element acting as a button. Button elements provide accessible behaviour, built-in form submission functionality, and can easily be styled.

Give each form submit button a value that says what it does. For each step towards checkout, use a descriptive call-to-action that shows progress and makes the next step obvious. For example, label the submit button on your delivery address form Proceed to Payment rather than Continue or Save.

Use a single name input where possible

Allow your users to enter their name using a single input, unless you have a good reason for separately storing given names, family names, honorifics, or other name parts. Using a single name input makes forms less complex, enables cut-and-paste, and makes autofill simpler. Use autocomplete="name" for a single input for name.

<input type="text" id="fullname" name="fullname" autocomplete="name">

Allow international names. For validation, avoid using regular expressions that only match Latin characters. Latin-only excludes users with names or addresses that include characters that aren't in the Latin alphabet. Allow Unicode letter matching instead—and ensure your backend supports Unicode securely as both input and output. Unicode in regular expressions is well supported by modern browsers.

Allow for a variety of address formats

When building an address form, be aware of the variety of address formats, even within a single country. Do not make assumptions about "normal" addresses.

Use a single <textarea> element for the street address if possible.

<!-- textarea handles multi-line international address formats that split inputs can't accommodate --><textarea id="address" name="address" autocomplete="street-address" required></textarea>

This is the most flexible option for a variety of local and international address formats.

If your data model needs separate address lines, use one <input> per line with the address-line1, address-line2 (and, if needed, address-line3) autocomplete tokens so that autofill still works. Don't split the street address across inputs that lack these tokens, and make only the first line required.

<!-- Alternative: one input per line, each with its own autocomplete token --><input type="text" id="address-line1" name="address-line1" autocomplete="address-line1" required><input type="text" id="address-line2" name="address-line2" autocomplete="address-line2">

Help save users from accidentally missing data fields

Add the required attribute to mandatory fields.

<input type="text" id="city" name="city" autocomplete="address-level2" required>

Fallback strategies

Baseline status for the html.elements.input.autocomplete capability: Widely available. It's been Baseline since 2015-07-29. Supported by: Chrome 14 (Sep 2011), Edge 12 (Jul 2015), Firefox 4 (Mar 2011), and Safari 6 (Jul 2012).

Autofill is a progressive enhancement. In browsers that do not support autofill, users will simply need to manually enter their address details. The semantic HTML constraints (such as type, inputmode, and required) will still function appropriately as standard form validation.