I'm new to HTML and I'm trying to learn how to use forms.
The biggest issue I am having so far is aligning the forms. Here is an example of my current HTML file:
<form>
First Name:<input type="text" name="first"><br />
Last Name:<input type="text" name="last"><br />
Email:<input type="text" name="email"><br />
</form>
The problem with this is, the field box after 'Email' is drastically different in terms of spacing compared to first, and last name. What is the 'proper' way to make it so that they 'line-up' essentially?
I am trying to practice good form and syntax...a lot of people might do this with CSS I am not sure, I have only learned the very basics of HTML so far.
The accepted answer (setting an explicit width in pixels) makes it hard to make changes, and breaks when your users use a different font size. Using CSS tables, on the other hand, works great:
form { display: table; }
p { display: table-row; }
label { display: table-cell; }
input { display: table-cell; }
<form>
<p>
<label for="a">Short label:</label>
<input id="a" type="text">
</p>
<p>
<label for="b">Very very very long label:</label>
<input id="b" type="text">
</p>
</form>
Here's a JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/DaS39/1/
And if you need the labels right-aligned, just add text-align: right to the labels: http://jsfiddle.net/DaS39/
EDIT: One more quick note: CSS tables also let you play with columns: for example, if you want to make the input fields take as much space as possible, you can add the following in your form
<div style="display: table-column;"></div>
<div style="display: table-column; width:100%;"></div>
you may want to add white-space: nowrap to the labels in that case.
Another example, this uses CSS, I simply put the form in a div with the container class. And specified that input elements contained within are to be 100% of the container width and not have any elements on either side.
.container {
width: 500px;
clear: both;
}
.container input {
width: 100%;
clear: both;
}
<html>
<head>
<title>Example form</title>
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
<form>
<label>First Name</label>
<input type="text" name="first"><br />
<label>Last Name</label>
<input type="text" name="last"><br />
<label>Email</label>
<input type="text" name="email"><br />
</form>
</div>
</body>
</html>
A simple solution for you if you're new to HTML, is just to use a table to line everything up.
<form>
<table>
<tr>
<td align="right">First Name:</td>
<td align="left"><input type="text" name="first" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Last Name:</td>
<td align="left"><input type="text" name="last" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Email:</td>
<td align="left"><input type="text" name="email" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
I find it far easier to change the display of the labels to inline-block and set a width
label {
display: inline-block;
width: 100px;
text-align: right;
}
<form>
<label>First Name:</label><input type="text" name="first" /><br />
<label>Last Name:</label><input type="text" name="last" /><br />
<label>Email:</label><input type="text" name="email" /><br />
</form>
You should use a table. As a matter of logical structure the data is tabular: this is why you want it to align, because you want to show that the labels are not related solely to their input boxes but also to each other, in a two-dimensional structure.
[consider what you would do if you had string or numeric values to display instead of input boxes.]
For this, I prefer to keep a correct HTML semantic, and to use a CSS simple as possible.
Something like this would do the job :
label{
display: block;
float: left;
width : 120px;
}
One drawback however : you might have to pick the right label width for each form, and this is not easy if your labels can be dynamic (I18N labels for instance).
using css
.containerdiv label {
float:left;
width:25%;
text-align:right;
margin-right:5px; /* optional */
}
.containerdiv input {
float:left;
width:65%;
}
this give you something like:
label1 |input box |
another label |another input box |
I'm a big fan of using definition lists.
They're easy to style using CSS, and they avoid the stigma of using tables for layout.
<dl>
<dt>Username:</dt>
<dd><input type="text" name="username" /></dd>
<dt>Password:</dt>
<dd><input type="password" name="password" /></dd>
</dl>
It also can be done using CSS and without tables or floats or fixed lengths by changing the content direction to rtl and then back to ltr, but the labels must go after each input.
To avoid this markup reordering, just set the label's text in a data-* attribute and show it using an ::after pseudo-element. I think it becomes much clearer.
Here is an example setting the label's text in a custom attribute called data-text and showing them using the ::after pseudo-element, so we don't mess with markup while changing direction to rtl and ltr :
form
{
display: inline-block;
background-color: gold;
padding: 6px;
}
label{
display: block;
direction: rtl;
}
input{
direction: ltr;
}
label::after{
content: attr(data-text);
}
<form>
<label data-text="First Name">
<input type="text" />
</label>
<label data-text="Last Name">
<input type="text" />
</label>
<label data-text="E-mail">
<input type="text" />
</label>
</form>
Clément's answer is by far the best. Here's a somewhat improved answer, showing different possible alignments, including left-center-right aligned buttons:
label {
padding-right: 8px;
}
.FAligned,
.FAlignIn {
display: table;
}
.FAlignIn {
width: 100%;
}
.FRLeft,
.FRRight,
.FRCenter {
display: table-row;
white-space: nowrap;
}
.FCLeft,
.FCRight,
.FCCenter {
display: table-cell;
}
.FRLeft,
.FCLeft,
.FILeft {
text-align: left;
}
.FRRight,
.FCRight,
.FIRight {
text-align: right;
}
.FRCenter,
.FCCenter,
.FICenter {
text-align: center;
}
<form class="FAligned">
<div class="FRLeft">
<p class="FRLeft">
<label for="Input0" class="FCLeft">Left:</label>
<input id="Input0" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Left Left Left" class="FILeft" />
</p>
<p class="FRLeft">
<label for="Input1" class="FCRight">Left Right Left:</label>
<input id="Input1" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Left Right Left" class="FILeft" />
</p>
<p class="FRRight">
<label for="Input2" class="FCLeft">Right Left Left:</label>
<input id="Input2" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Right Left Left" class="FILeft" />
</p>
<p class="FRRight">
<label for="Input3" class="FCRight">Right Right Left:</label>
<input id="Input3" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Right Right Left" class="FILeft" />
</p>
<p class="FRLeft">
<label for="Input4" class="FCLeft">Left Left Right:</label>
<input id="Input4" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Left Left Right" class="FIRight" />
</p>
<p class="FRLeft">
<label for="Input5" class="FCRight">Left Right Right:</label>
<input id="Input5" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Left Right Right" class="FIRight" />
</p>
<p class="FRRight">
<label for="Input6" class="FCLeft">Right Left Right:</label>
<input id="Input6" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Right Left Right" class="FIRight" />
</p>
<p class="FRRight">
<label for="Input7" class="FCRight">Right:</label>
<input id="Input7" type="text" size="30" placeholder="Right Right Right" class="FIRight" />
</p>
<p class="FRCenter">
<label for="Input8" class="FCCenter">And centralised is also possible:</label>
<input id="Input8" type="text" size="60" placeholder="Center in the centre" class="FICenter" />
</p>
</div>
<div class="FAlignIn">
<div class="FRCenter">
<div class="FCLeft"><button type="button">Button on the Left</button></div>
<div class="FCCenter"><button type="button">Button on the Centre</button></div>
<div class="FCRight"><button type="button">Button on the Right</button></div>
</div>
</div>
</form>
I added some padding on the right of all labels (padding-right:8px) just to make the example slight less horrible looking, but that should be done more carefully in a real project (adding padding to all other elements would also be a good idea).
The traditional method is to use a table.
However, many would argue that tables are restricting and prefer CSS. The benefit of using CSS is that you could use various elements. From divs, ordered and un-ordered list, you could accomplish the same layout.
In the end, you'll want to use what you're most comfortable with.
Hint: Tables are easy to get started with.
Example:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
First Name:
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="first">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Last Name:
</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="last">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I know this has already been answered, but I found a new way to align them nicely - with an extra benefit - see http://www.gargan.org/en/Web_Development/Form_Layout_with_CSS/
basically you use the label element around the input and align using that and then with css you simply align:
label {
display: block;
position: relative;
}
label span {
font-weight: bold;
position: absolute;
left: 3px;
}
label input,
label textarea,
label select {
margin-left: 120px;
}
<label><span>Name</span> <input /></label>
<label><span>E-Mail</span> <input /></label>
<label><span>Comment</span> <textarea></textarea></label>
you do not need any messy br lying around for linebreaks - meaning you can quickly accomplish a multi-column layout dynamically
the whole line is click-able. Especially for checkboxes this is a huge help.
Dynamically showing/hiding form lines is easy (you just search for the input and hide its parent -> the label)
you can assign classes to the whole label making it show error input much clearer (not only around the input field)
Well for the very basics you can try aligning them in the table. However the use of table is bad for layout since table is meant for contents.
What you can use is CSS floating techniques.
.styleform label{float:left;}
.styleform input{margin-left:200px;} /* this gives space for the label on the left */
.styleform .clear{clear:both;} /* prevent elements from stacking weirdly */
<div class="styleform">
<form>
<label>First Name:</label><input type="text" name="first" />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label>Last Name:</label><input type="text" name="first" />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label>Email:</label><input type="text" name="first" />
<div class="clear"></div>
</form>
</div>
An elaborate article I wrote can be found answering the question of IE7 float problem: IE7 float right problems
Insert input tags inside an unordered lists.Make the style-type none.
Here's an example.
<ul>
Input1
<li> <input type="text" />
Input2
<li> <input type="text" />
<ul/>
Worked for me !
The CSS I used to solve this problem, similar to Gjaa but styled better
It's very simple, and I'm just beginning, but it worked quite nicely
Here is my CSS and HTML, used specifically for a simple registration form with no php code
p {
text-align: center;
}
.styleform label {
float: left;
width: 40%;
text-align: right;
}
.styleform input {
float: left;
width: 30%;
}
<form id="registration">
<h1>Register</h1>
<div class="styleform">
<fieldset id="inputs">
<p><label>Name:</label>
<input id="name" type="text" placeholder="Name" autofocus required>
</p>
<p><label>Email:</label>
<input id="email" type="text" placeholder="Email Address" required>
</p>
<p><label>Username:</label>
<input id="username" type="text" placeholder="Username" autofocus required>
</p>
<p>
<label>Password:</label>
<input id="password" type="password" placeholder="Password" required>
</p>
</fieldset>
<fieldset id="actions">
</fieldset>
</div>
<p>
<input type="submit" id="submit" value="Register">
</p>
</form>
<form>
<div>
<label for='username'>UserName</label>
<input type='text' name='username' id='username' value=''>
</div>
</form>
In the CSS you have to declare both label and input as display: inline-block and give width according to your requirements. Hope this will help you. :)
Simply add
<form align="center ></from>
Just put align in opening tag.
Related
I have a simple form like this:
<form method="post" action="/registration">
<label for="alias">Alias:</label>
<input type="text" name="alias" id="alias">
<br>
<label for="email">E-mail:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email">
<br>
<input type="button" value="registger">
</form>
It works fine, but the I have found out that <br> shouldn't be used for this purpose, as it is only intended to be used with text.
If I remove the <br>, then everything will be rendered on a single line, which I do not want.
What is the correct, most clean way to display name-input pairs in a form with CSS, like this:
Alias: [__field__]
E-mail: [__field__]
[SUBMIT BUTTON]
I'd use divs, which will put the labels and inputs into their own block.
<form method="post" action="/registration">
<div>
<label for="alias">Alias:</label>
<input type="text" name="alias" id="alias">
</div>
<div>
<label for="email">E-mail:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email">
</div>
<input type="button" value="registger">
</form>
I typically would put the input inside of the label (so when you click the label, it focuses the input), and then tell the label to be display: block;.
So,
<form method="post" action="/registration">
<label for="alias">
Alias: <input type="text" name="alias" id="alias">
</label>
<label for="email">
E-mail: <input type="text" name="email" id="email">
</label>
<input type="button" value="registger">
</form>
Then do:
label[for], // just selects labels that have the "for" attribute.
input[type="button"] {
display: block;
// And a bottom margin for good measure :)
margin: 0 0 10px; // shorthand for margin-bottom
}
And that should get you what you want.
You could use divs with corresponding CSS:
.myFrm {
width: 250px;
}
input[type=text] {
float: right;
}
.form-group {
margin-bottom: 10px;
}
.form-group::after {
content: "";
clear: both;
display: table;
}
<form method="post" action="/registration">
<div class="myFrm">
<div class="form-group">
<label for="alias">Alias:</label>
<input type="text" name="alias" id="alias">
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="email">E-mail:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email">
</div>
</div>
<input type="button" value="registger">
</form>
I would just use a bit of css to do the trick. Give each of the labels a display:block;
label {
display: block;
}
You can use container divs around the label and input to group them or else make sure "display: block" is added to the label and input elements.
If you need the label to the left of the input then wrap both with a container div and to give you more control on the positioning you could float the label and input to the left or use flexbox.
You ask:
What is the correct, most clean way to display name-input pairs in a
form with CSS
I interpret your question to be related to matters of performance, code efficiency and maintainability. Since just changing the HTML structure does not address responsiveness in different view-ports, adding bits of CSS may have render blocking features but it does nevertheless makes your application ready for mobile responsiveness. This is how I see it:
form {
display: inline-block;
}
label {
margin: 10px;
font-weight: 600;
}
input{
position: absolute;
left: 15%;
}
input[type=button]{
top: 4%;
}
Note that for mobile viewports you may want to adjust the relative measures with media queries. So the question here is not about writing less code but the main requirements of the application.
Get a plunk for this here
What you have there is a list.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Introduction_to_HTML/HTML_text_fundamentals#Lists
http://reisio.com/temp/form1.html
I'm making an HTML page with a list of fields for filling out billing info.
Since the labels are in-line, their width is determined by the text contained in them, thus making them different widths which makes the input boxes unaligned. This makes a very ugly, unorganized look.
<fieldset>
<legend>Billing Information</legend><br>
Card Number: <input type="text"><br><br>
Expiration Month: <input type="number"><br><br>
Expiration Year: <input type="number"><br><br>
Name on Card: <input type="text"><br><br>
Address: <input type="text"><br><br>
City: <input type="text"><br><br>
State: <input type="text"><br><br>
Country: <input type="text"><br><br>
ZIP Code: <input type="number"><br><br>
</fieldset><br>
What do I need to do to my HTML code to align the right side of the labels and the left side of the input boxes?
Use table structure for your lists of fields for proper alignment.
<fieldset>
<legend>Billing Information</legend>
<table>
<tr><td>Card Number:</td><td><input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Expiration Month:</td><td> <input type="number"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Expiration Year:</td><td> <input type="number"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Name on Card:</td><td> <input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Address:</td><td> <input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>City:</td><td> <input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>State:</td><td> <input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Country:</td><td> <input type="text"></td></tr>
<tr><td>ZIP Code:</td><td> <input type="number"></td></tr>
</table>
</fieldset>
You can use tables or use display: table-row & display: table-cell css to simulate table cell layouts as following:
fieldset {display: inline-block; padding: 10px 20px;} /* 'display: inline-block' is not necessary, just for appearance */
.row {display: table-row; }
.lbl {display: table-cell; text-align:right; padding: 8px 5px;}
<fieldset>
<legend>Billing Information</legend>
<div class="row"><span class="lbl">Card Number: </span><input type="text"></div>
<div class="row"><span class="lbl">Expiration Month: </span><input type="number"></div>
<div class="row"><span class="lbl">Expiration Year: </span><input type="number"></div>
<!-- ... /-->
</fieldset><br>
You will find it much easier if you put your elements into suitable containers and use CSS to do the hard work.
<style type="text/css">
label {
display: inline-block;
font-weight: bold;
width: 10em;
}
</style>
<fieldset>
<legend>Billing Information</legend><br>
<p><label for="card-number">Card Number:</label><input type="text" name="card-number" id="card-number"></p>
<p><label for="expiration-month">Expiration Month:</label><input type="text" name="expiration-month" id="expiration-month"></p>
<!-- etc -->
</fieldset>
Here the label does 3 jobs:
It creates a clickable text to activate your input box.
It makes the purpose of the text clear for screen readers and other software.
You can easily apply CSS to the element.
The label element can either be wrapped around the input element:
<label>Expiration Month: <input …></label>
or attached with the for attribute. The for attribute references an id, which is independent of the name attribute. As you see in the example, they are often set to the same value.
In the CSS, we set the width to something reasonable. However, the label needs to be displayed as an inline-block for the width to take effect.
Use flexbox to fix your problem.
Wrap the container fieldset using display: flex, Set the flex-direction as column. Wrap the children inside a div and set the flex-grow property for the span element as 1.
Using flexbox will take care of responsiveness.
Refer CSS Flexbox
fieldset {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
}
div {
display: flex;
margin: 10px;
}
span {
flex: 1;
}
<fieldset>
<legend>Billing Information</legend>
<div><span>Card Number: </span><input type="text"> </div>
<div><span>Expiration Month:</span> <input type="number"></div>
<div><span> Expiration Year:</span> <input type="number"></div>
<div><span>Name on Card:</span> <input type="text"> </div>
<div><span>Address:</span> <input type="text"> </div>
<div><span>City:</span> <input type="text"></div>
<div><span>State: </span><input type="text"></div>
<div><span>Country:</span> <input type="text"></div>
<div><span>ZIP Code:</span> <input type="number"></div>
</fieldset>
Suppose I have a web page with a form:
<form>
<label for="FirstName">First:</label>
<input name="FirstName" type="text">
<label for="MiddleName">Middle:</label>
<input name="MiddleName" type="text">
<label for="LastName">Last:</label>
<input name="LastName" type="text">
</form>
If I size the browser window small enough, I get a line break between the label that says "Middle:" and the "MiddleName" input. It would be better to put a break between labels and input fields that are not related, e.g. break between "FirstName" input and label for "MiddleName", and/or between input "MiddleName" and label for "LastName". Obviously I can add <br/> tags, but is there a good way to keep the related items together, and still use only 1 line when the browser window is wide enough?
I realize this is a contrived example, but this is pattern I am having trouble with in several more complicated real world forms.
Put the inputs inside the labels, you don't even need the for attributes. Then style the labels with white-space: nowrap to prevent automatic line breaks.
label { white-space: nowrap; }
<form>
<label>First: <input name="FirstName" type="text"></label>
<label>Middle: <input name="MiddleName" type="text"></label>
<label>Last: <input name="LastName" type="text"></label>
</form>
Surround the related elements within an wrapper and then prevent line breaks inside the wrapper with CSS:
.wrapper {
white-space: nowrap;
}
<form>
<span class="wrapper">
<label for="FirstName">First:</label>
<input name="FirstName" type="text" />
</span>
<span class="wrapper">
<label for="MiddleName">Middle:</label>
<input name="MiddleName" type="text" />
</span>
<span class="wrapper">
<label for="LastName">Last:</label>
<input name="LastName" type="text" />
</span>
</form>
You can surround each set with a wrapper that is display: inline-block;
.wrap {
display: inline-block;
/* Only include this if
you don't want the text within the spans
to wrap when the window is small enough
*/
white-space: nowrap;
}
<form>
<span class="wrap">
<label for="FirstName">First:</label>
<input name="FirstName" type="text" />
</span>
<span class="wrap">
<label for="MiddleName">Middle:</label>
<input name="MiddleName" type="text" />
</span>
<span class="wrap">
<label for="LastName">Last:</label>
<input name="LastName" type="text" />
</span>
</form>
I use getuikit for form styling, they do it with something like this:
HTML
<label>My label</label>
<div class="controls"><input type=text/></div>
CSS
label {
float:left;
margin-top:5px; //to center the label vertically
width: 200px;
}
.controls {
margin-left:200px;
}
It doesn't break semantics. Putting input inside label is little strange :)
I am trying to have my forms float right, so that it looks neat when everything is placed next to each other, and it works fine, EXCEPT for the first 2? That is what weirds me out? It works great after the first 2. Here is a screenshot that says it all and my HTML code
<head>
<title>New user</title>
<style type="text/css">
#form_container {
width: 25%;
}
#form_container input {
float: right;
clear: both;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div id="form_container">
<form action="" method="post">
Username: <input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
Password: <input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
Password again: <input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
Password triple: <input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
</form>
</div>
</body>
Why is there that "space" between the first and second ones?
Thanks on advance everyone!
It's simply because you are asking for a password 3 times.. the markup doesn't like that and throws a random gap at you.
In all seriousness, there are a few ways to fix this.. the easiest is to set clear:both on the br.. that was causing the gap.
jsFiddle example
br {
clear:both;
}
Also, remove clear:both from #form_container input as that isn't needed anymore.
#form_container input {
float: right;
}
I'd also suggest adding a label to each input for validation purposes.
Restructure your markup a bit to add labels (which you could have anyway), and you can ditch the <br>'s completely. Working example here: http://jsfiddle.net/designingsean/rWfek/1/
HTML:
<div id="form_container">
<form action="" method="post">
<label>Username</label>
<input type="text" name="username" value="" />
<label>Password</label>
<input type="text" name="username" value="" />
<label>Password again</label>
<input type="text" name="username" value="" />
<label>Password triple</label>
<input type="text" name="username" value="" />
</form>
</div>
The important bit of CSS:
label {
float:left;
width:50%;
}
The first answer is fine, but I also suggest wrapping everything in label.
The advantage is that when you click on the label text, 'Username: ', it will automatically put focus in the input box. While this might seem small, it really helps on touch devices, and especially on radio inputs -- try tapping the little 10x10 radio box. Much nicer and more intuitive with label.
<label>Username: <input type="text" name="username" value="" /></label>
and in the CSS:
#form_container label {
display:block;
clear:both;
}
Also, if you didn't already know this, I suggest using <input type="password"/> for passwords.
See this JSFiddle.
I'm still having a hard time not wanting to use Tables to do my Details View Layout in HTML. I want to run some samples by people and get some opinions.
What you would prefer to see in the html for a Details View? Which one has the least hurddles cross browser? Which is the most compliant? Which one looks better if a I have a static width label column that is right aligned?
By Details view i mean something similar to the following image.
Table
<table>
<tr>
<td><label /></td>
<td><input type="textbox" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label /></td>
<td><input type="textbox" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
Fieldset
<fieldset>
<label /><input type="textbox" /><br />
<label /><input type="textbox" /><br />
</fieldset>
Divs
<div class="clearFix">
<div class="label"><label /></div>
<div class="control"><input type="textbox" /></div>
</div>
<div class="clearFix">
<div class="label"><label /></div>
<div class="control"><input type="textbox" /></div>
</div>
List
<ul>
<li><label /><input type="textbox" /></li>
<li><label /><input type="textbox" /></li>
</ul>
Those approaches aren't mutually exclusive, personally I'd mix them up a bit:
<fieldset>
<label for="name">XXX <input type="text" id="name"/></label>
<label for="email">XXX <input type="text" id="email"/></label>
</fieldset>
Although to get a right aligned label (something I'd personally avoid because it's harder to scan visually) you'll need to have an extra element around the text that isn't around the input, so I'd go for
<fieldset>
<div class="label_input"><label for="name">XXX</label><input type="text" id="name"/></div>
<div class="label_input"><label for="email">XXX</label><input type="text" id="email"/></div>
</fieldset>
Actually I take that back for simple textbox only inputs I find that the Fieldset option works well.
However, typically I will have multiple controls in a single "row", therefore I go with the div based layout, that way I can put inputs, validators and all into a single element.
I prefer the fieldset containing divs. The label divs are float:left; width:20em and the content divs just have a fixed left margin of 21em or 22em for example. But you have to remember to include a clear div for that to work:
<fieldset>
<div class="labels"><label for="name">Name</label></div>
<div class="data"><input ....</div>
<div style="clear:both"/>
// repeat for next fields
</fieldset>
CSS:
label{
float:left;
text-align:right;
width:115px;
margin-right:5px;
}
input{
margin-bottom:5px;
}
HTML:
<label for="username">UserName:</label><input type="text" id="username" /><br />
<label for="username">UserName:</label><input type="text" id="username" /><br />
Obviously you then can add a div or use the form around it to get a background-color for your whole form etc.
I find that forms are one of the hardest thing to deal with in css because if you're wanting tight control, there's often a lot of css to add that old school HTML would take care of for you. However, if you're willing to accept a uniform natural treatment, then the cleanest way to separate the content and presentation would be:
form { margin: 0; padding: 0; }
fieldset { whatever treatment you want }
#details div { margin: 5px 0; width: 100%; overflow: hidden; /* ensures that your floats are cleared */ }
#details label { float: left; width: 190px; text-align: right; }
#details input { margin-left: 200px; }
<form>
<fieldset id="details">
<div id="item1div">
<label for="item1">item1 label</label>
<input type="" id="item1" />
</div>
<div id="item1div">
<label for="item1">item1 label</label>
<input type="" id="item1" />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
You CAN use tables to format forms tabularly but use CSS to add styles to the forms. CSS purists will probably say that you shouldn't but the reality is that many browsers often render CSS forms differently and can cause accessibility issues. A table-based form is much more consistent across browsers and much more accessible as well.