Is it valid HTML to use input elements without id and name attribute only?

Question

I'm reworking a site which uses inputs like this multiple times throughout a page:

 <input type="text" name="delDate" value="06.03.2012" />

There's always an adjacent hidden input, which gives the date enterted above a specific id, when the form is submitted, but I'm wondering if doing it like this (and omitting an input#id is a valid way doing things, since the W3C validator does not complain about it.

Thanks for some input!

Answer 1

Yes, that is valid. The id attribute is not required.

Answer 2

The problem of doing this is not that it is a validity problem but that it creates an accessibility problem (i.e., it may confuse screen readers for disabled users). It is generally considered best to have a label with a "for" attribute that matches the "id" attribute of the associated input element.