Internet Explorer and Netscape do not use the VALUE attribute as the default contents of the input area. Any default value set via HTML is not usable via scripting and the DOM as well (hence it is not listed as 'supported' in any of the browsers.) If a user enters text in the field however, that value is then reachable via the DOM as it normally would be for a normal INPUT field (via the .value property.) The reason for this behavior would presumably be to ensure the security/safety of users against malicious authors.