Search/form input in email design - forms

Question

This is an amazing email campaign from Bed Bath and Beyond!
It's because there could be no JS or PHP on email campaigns, and yet, there is a functioning search form.
So, does anyone know how it is done? I'm an email designer and I want to add in this feature to my company's newsletter..Thanks for the help!
Snippet of the Search Form in an email
<table width="650" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tbody><tr>
<td bgcolor="#6699cc" colspan="9"><img style="display: block;" height="7" width="650" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_top.jpg"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="14"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="14" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_left.jpg"></td>
<td bgcolor="#336699" width="272"><input class="search" size="36" name="sstr" value="enter keyword" style="display:block; width:240px;"></td>
<td bgcolor="#336699" width="22"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="13" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/spacer.gif"></td>
<td width="71"><input id="SEARCH" title="SEARCH" type="image" height="33" alt="SEARCH" width="71" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_submit.jpg" border="0" name="SEARCH" style="display:block"></td>
<td bgcolor="#6699cc" width="7"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="7" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/spacer.gif"></td>
<td width="134"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="134" border="0" alt="Shop By Brand" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_bybrand.jpg"></td>
<td bgcolor="#6699cc" width="7"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="7" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/spacer.gif"></td>
<td width="116"><a hrefenter code here="http://bargainswoop.com/go-to/?http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/nodePage.asp?order_num=-1&RN=856?utm_source=e&utm_medium=e&utm_term=e&utm_content=headerfooter&utm_name=JulyCirc" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="116" border="0" alt="What's New" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_whatsnew.jpg"></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#6699cc" width="7"><img style="display: block;" height="33" width="7" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/spacer.gif"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#6699cc" colspan="9"><img style="display: block;" height="7" width="650" border="0" alt="" src="http://image.bedbathandbeyond.com/bedbathbeyond/2010/search_test/search_bottom.jpg"></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>

Answer 1

The form should be just a normal form, there are no tricks there.
check out this article from css tricks.
The problem is a matter of compatibility, email clients are difficult since they don't follow the same standards many times. You should go one by one through the clients you want to support and see if you are happy with the results.
I'm trying it out in quite a few and will post a (short) list a little in a while.
Please note that as the article says there might be some warnings in some email clients.
Gmail - Works with warning.
Hotmail - Doesnt seem to work (looking for a workaround).
(work in progress)
Compatibility table taken from campaign monitor:
I think it will be your decision based on the knowledge of your database.
But in conclusion it might not be a good idea since it might be quite annoying to the users that can't see it or can't use it, there are simply too many email clients that don't follow the same standards.