


What is the difference between the disabled and readonly html attributes on form inputs?
Jun 27, 2025 am 01:45 AMBoth disabled and readonly restrict form interaction, but the submission behavior is different. 1. Disabled input is not submitted with the form, and the data will not be sent to the server; readonly input will submit the value. 2. The disabled field is usually grayed out and cannot be focused through the tab, while the readonly field looks normal. The user can tab focus but cannot edit it. 3.JS can modify the readonly field value, but cannot change the disabled field. 4. If you need to submit uneditable values ??or update dynamically with JS, you should use readonly; if you need to completely block interaction and submission, you should use disabled.
The disabled
and readonly
attributes in HTML both restrict user interaction with form inputs, but they behave differently in key ways — especially when it comes to form submission and styling. Here's a practical breakdown of the differences:

1. How They Affect Form Submission
-
disabled
inputs are not submitted
When a form is submitted, any input with thedisabled
attribute will be completely ignored. The data from that field won't be sent to the server. readonly
inputs are submitted
Inputs marked asreadonly
still submit their values ??along with the rest of the form. This makesreadonly
more appropriate for fields you want to show but not let users edit.
So if you're building a form where certain values ??should be visible but unchangeable, and still need to be included in the form data, use readonly
.

2. User Interaction and Styling
disabled
fields usually look grayed out
Browsers typically style disabled inputs with lower opacity or a faded appearance, indicating they're inactive. You can override this with CSS, but the default behavior is clear.readonly
fields usually look normal
Read-only inputs often appear just like regular inputs, which can confuse users unless you add visual cues (like background color or a note) to indicate they can't be edited.
Also:
- Users can tab into
readonly
fields but not intodisabled
ones. -
readonly
only apply to<input>
and<textarea></textarea>
elements;disabled
works on a wider range including buttons and select dropdowns.
3. JavaScript Access and Behavior
You can modify a
readonly
input with JavaScript
Even though the user can't change areadonly
field directly, your scripts can still update its value.disabled
fields are locked from both user and script changes
While you can enable them again via JavaScript, while disabled, even scripts can't alter their value.
This means:
- Use
readonly
if you want to lock editing but still allow programming updates. - Use
disabled
if you want to fully block all changes until some condition is met (like checking a box).
4. When to Use Each One
Here's a quick guide:
Use readonly
when:
- You want users to see but not edit a value
- You need the value to be submitted with the form
- You might want to change the value later via JavaScript
Use disabled
when:
- You want to prevent any interaction entirely
- You don't want the value submitted
- You're waiting for a condition to be met before allowing input
In short, both attributes lock input fields, but they serve different purposes depending on whether the data needs to be submitted and how you want it to behave in the UI and with scripts.
Basically that's it.
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