title: difference between text_field and text_area in form_for
body: <p>So I have seen examples of text_field and text_area being used in forms like this: </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;%= form_for :account do |a| %&gt;
      Name: &lt;%= a.text_field :name %&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      Password: &lt;%= a.text_area :password %&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
      Password Confirmation: &lt;%= a.text_field :password_confirmation %&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;%= a.submit %&gt;
  &lt;% end %&gt; 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I don't understand the difference, though. Is it necessary for a beginner Rails developer to understand the difference?</p>
  
  <p>I found some explanations in the API which I don't understand - perhaps somebody can take a look and let me know what is going on. </p>
  
  <p>For "text_area":</p>
  
  <pre><code>text_area(object_name, method, options = {})
  
  Returns a textarea opening and closing tag set tailored for accessing a 
  specified attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template 
  (identified by object). 
   Additional options on the input tag can be passed as a hash with options.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Then, for "text_field":</p>
  
  <pre><code>  text_field(object_name, method, options = {}) Link
  
      Returns an input tag of the “text” type tailored for accessing a specified 
  attribute (identified by method) on an object assigned to the template 
  (identified by object). Additional options on the input tag can be passed 
  as a hash with options. These options will be tagged onto the HTML as an 
  HTML element attribute as in the example shown.
  </code></pre>