How to save user input into a variable in HTML and JavaScript

It doesn’t work because name is a reserved word in JavaScript. Change the function name to something else.

See http://www.quackit.com/javascript/javascript_reserved_words.cfm

<form id="form" onsubmit="return false;">
    <input style="position:absolute; top:80%; left:5%; width:40%;" type="text" id="userInput" />
    <input style="position:absolute; top:50%; left:5%; width:40%;" type="submit" onclick="othername();" />
</form>

function othername() {
    var input = document.getElementById("userInput").value;
    alert(input);
}