Question

Is it valid to have <input> without it being in a <form>?

Have a process for marking up some fields in pages and just found a page with input fields that where not being marked up as I expected.
It’s taken me a while but worked out that the process of getting the form elements then getting the fields is what caused these to be missed because there is no form.

Answer 1

<input> without a <form> appears valid, yes (at least for html 4.01, look near the end of 17.2.1):

The elements used to create controls
generally appear inside a FORM
element, but may also appear outside
of a FORM element declaration when
they are used to build user
interfaces. This is discussed in the
section on intrinsic events. Note that
controls outside a form cannot be
successful controls.