Can I apply the required attribute to <select> fields in HTML5?

Question

How can I check if a user has selected something from a field in HTML5?

I see

doesn\'t support the new

Answer 1

You can use the selected attribute for the option element to select a choice by default. You can use the required attribute for the select element to ensure that the user selects something.

In Javascript, you can check the selectedIndex property to get the index of the selected option, or you can check the value property to get the value of the selected option.

According to the HTML5 spec, selectedIndex "returns the index of the first selected item, if any, or −1 if there is no selected item. And value "returns the value of the first selected item, if any, or the empty string if there is no selected item." So if selectedIndex = -1, then you know they haven't selected anything.

What did I pick?