HTML5 - input=number and incompatible browsers

Question

I want to use the html5 element on my website, but i want to know what happens to this field in browsers that do not support this

Answer 1

Refer to

• W3 - Input Types
• W3 - Input Type Number
• W3Schools - HTML 5 Input Types

Open this Example on IE and Chrome and see the difference.

Supported Browsers:

• Opera
• Safari
• Chrome

If HTML 5 Input Types are not supported on a browser, they will behave as regular text fields.

Answer 2

Caution, while older browsers ignore and default to "text", many newer browsers simply do the wrong thing. See: What models of Samsung smartphones have missing period for html5 input type="number"?

Answer 3

When a browser does not recognize a particular type value for an <input>, it reverts to it's default value, which is text. So, all of the following are equivalent on browsers that do not support type="number":

<input type="number">
<input type="somevaluethatdoesntexist">
<input type="text">
<input>

For browsers that do support type="number", the number <input> will be displayed instead of the text <input>.

Read more about the type attribute in the HTML Specification.