I have no style - html

I am tearing my hair out on this one and it seems I am probably not searching the right terms and the google results I get seems to be general layout type of questions.
I have some data that I wish to represent in a web page. There are some 20~30 fields of different data. If I were to do it with what I know, I would so something like this(total of 3 columns and 30 rows each field is different data):
<table>
<tr><td>Field1:</td><td><input id="dataforField1"></input></td><td>Field2:/td><td><input id="dataforfield2"></td></tr>
<tr><td>Field3:</td><td><input id="dataforField3"></input></td><td>Field4:/td><td><input id="dataforfield4"></td></tr>
</table>
However I have been reading lately that div is much preferred when presenting non-tabular data. So I attempted to do this:
<div style="float:left;">
<ul>
<li>Field1</li>
<li>Field2</li>
<li>Field3</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div style="float:left;">
<ul>
<li><input id="tag1...</li>
<li><input id="tag2...</li>
<li><input id="tag3...</li>
</ul>
</div>
but my field labels are not lining up with my data input elements. Field1 seems to match input1 horizontally. But when I get to field10, it is off by a lot. I tried it without ul and li and use br after each, but I can't seem to get them to line up.
Question:
How do I get them to match if I don't do table?
I need clarification on the word "tabular". If my data were a table, it would only ever going to have 1 row. When is it okay to use table?
What do people use to line things up when they are trying to implement similar things?
Edit:
I want Field1 to line up horizontally with input tag1 and so on.
Edit2:
Added a picture to show how things are not lining up. it would be the same without li.

I would generally suggest adopting a grid system for this purpose. There are many great ones. My favorite one for web development is Bootstrap's grid. Bootstrap as a framework is amazing as well.
I will also add a quote of my comment regarding this:
... It is really recommended to only use a table when you are actually
willing to show a real table with information in it. The old way of
presenting forms in tables to achieve alignment is just a no-no these
days. Grid systems do it better and they are more responsive.
However.
The disalignment was caused by loss of relativity between the text (labels) and the input fields. As the list goes longer, the proportions are losing. This is because the height of the text is not the same as the height of the input field.
CSS:
li {
height: 40px;
}
This makes sure all <li> elements will have the same height. Of course it's recommended to apply the style to a class and not directly to an element, but this is just for the sake of the solution.
CodePen: http://codepen.io/arielweinberger/pen/jqveoX
I haven't managed to re-produce what you said you are experiencing.

For labels and inputs you should use, you guessed it: labels and inputs. Put each pair under the same parent, make them inline-blocks with a fixed width and you're good to go. No need for external tools, this is as basic as it gets.
label {
margin-right: 10px;
width: 120px;
display: inline-block;
}
<div style="float:left;">
<ul>
<li><label>Field1</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field2</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field3</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field4</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field5</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Long Field Name</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field6</label><input/></li>
<li><label>Field7</label><input/></li>
</ul>
</div>

Related

Styling list items in a form

I'm having difficulty styling a <fieldset> that is a numbered list item in a form.
I've created a form and have made each question an item in an ordered list, like so:
<li>
<label>foo</label>
<input type='text'>
</li>
<li>
<label>baz</label>
<textarea></textarea>
</li>
Now I'm trying to style each list element so that each list number and the question (<label> element) appear together on a line, and the interactive widget appears on the line underneath. This is easy enough for questions that are made up of inline elements, but I'm running into trouble with check boxes and radio buttons that I have grouped together with a <fieldset>.
I've removed the default styling on the <fieldset> and <legend> elements to try and make these questions look like the other list items in the form. But now I'm getting this really odd behaviour where the list number is aligning with the bottom input option (as opposed to with the label).
Changing the list-style-position doesn't help, and fiddling around with the <input> or <label> styles doesn't seem to affect it. I tried changing the <ol> to display: flex and doing a few things with that but that didn't do anything either.
What has worked has been getting rid of the fieldset elements all together, but then there's no semantic relationship between the buttons and the questions, which I know is important for screenreaders. I'm sure I could also get rid of the numbering all together, but I don't want to. I looked it up before I started writing this form and there was nothing to say that nesting elements in <li> was an issue.
I found this blog as a guide to styling <fieldset> but it didn't help me fix my issue.
Here's a fiddle that demonstrates my issue (Q1 and Q3 are demonstrating the effect I'm going for; Question 2 has the weird styling issue).
https://jsfiddle.net/ocfk23un/45/
Basically, I'd like a solution to this issue or I'd like to know why this is happening before I abandon using the fieldset.
You should keep using the HTML that you have as it is semantically correct.
You just need to need to add vertical-align: top; to your fieldset styles:
fieldset {
display: inline;
padding: 0;
border: 0;
vertical-align: top;
}

No alternative for table layout?

I do understand. Tables must be used only for tabular data, not for layout in any case.
I used to write code with lots of tables, but several years ago i've found ways to replace them with more appropriate structures in every situation. Except one.
<ul>
<li>We're up</li>
<li>all night</li>
<li>to get</li>
<li>lucky</li>
<li class="last_one"><input type="search" placeholder="I'm search"></li>
</ul>
Here's the fiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/4enMp/4/
I'm trying to make a menu here. My requirements:
The menu must fill all the page horizontally [menu width: 100%]
All the menu cells (except for the last one) should have random widths, depending on the widths of their contents [width of menu item = width of item's content]. It means it should not be hardcoded.
The last menu item (with search input) should stretch to fill all the remaining space. [last menu item fills all the space left].
The whole thing must support IE7+. It's silly. I know. But it is something I can do nothing about. Thankfully I don't have to bother with IE6.
As I've illustrated in JS Fiddle, it's pretty easy to do that with tables (though I don't claim it's 100% right, it's consistent across browsers).
I have not managed to meet these 4 requirements with unordered lists (see Fiddle above). I would greatly appreciate any thoughts of how to reach it with HTML and CSS only.
Thanks a lot for your help!
Edit: here's my desired menu design:
Your current problem seems to be with the the last li being width: 100%, which will make the li be the size of the ul, thus being pushed off the "screen".
An easy fix would be to make that li have a position:absolute;.
Live example
Edit: I'd mostly agree with Kate though. You should probably make the search separate from the ul and just float it right.
I don't understand why you need to have your input field in the same element as your menu. They serve pretty different functions. I would probably approach this by breaking the input field out of the unordered list, and just floating it right. It uses a little more HTML but totally works.
http://jsfiddle.net/4enMp/5/
ul {
display: table;
}
li {
display:table-cell;
line-height:30px;
}

HTML form in tables or not

Before anyone close this question or complain... I've been looking all over StackOverFlow site but couldn't find anything straight foward about tables and forms.
I have a form which has at least 20 to 35 labels and text boxes, in different categories. So to start using CSS for each element would be too much.
For some reason, I'm feeling like using tables to align all the fields with their respective labels, since some labels will be larger than others (i.e. 'First Name' is a larger word than 'Age'), and so the layout would be distorted. And I can't start applying css for each label and text box (circa 20 each... that's 40 individual css rules).
Unless someone can give me some techniques, I'll be greatful.
I know CSS is good for forms but what about the very big forms?
So long as you use the cascade to your advantage, there is nothing wrong with CSS for forms.
In fact, I recommend it over using table.
Just set up some base rules...
input {
padding: 3px;
float: right;
}
Then handle the exceptions to your rules...
input#age {
float: none;
}
Forms are not tabular data, simple forms just superficially look like they are.
CSS is just fine for long forms. Have styles for most data. Then more specific styles for short bits of data and/or long bits of data, and so on. Don't style everything individually.
try using UL and LI instead of table, such as explained in the following article Click to see article
It provides the CSS too.
You wouldn't need 40 individual CSS rules. You could have one rule for all the labels, and one for all text boxes.
BUT - having said that - this sort of layout, where you have two columns of stuff, and you want all the stuff in column 1 (the labels in this example) aligned with each other, and all the stuff in col 2 (the text boxes) aligned with each other, while keeping the rows aligned - well that's exactly the sort of thing that the the good ol' table excels at.
I am a big advocate of CSS, and I believe that abuse of tables (to layout a page for example) is evil, evil, evil - but I would definitely go with tables on this one.
At the end of the day, it's all about preference and functionality. My personal preference are divs/CSS. The cascading nature of CSS, and cleanliness of the code, etc..
But hey, if you like tables - shout it from a rooftop!
You can use jQuery Masonry.
As far as I can see, it will achieve the layout you need and all you have to do is add classes and single line of JS code.
You can create good, accessible forms using CSS without too many CSS rules (for the alignment part, anyway). You basically just need to set the width of all the labels -- with one rule -- and define how they interact with the input elements. There a nice article at http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/forms/ (just the first one I found, I'm sure there are many others).
For a form IMO i'd rather use a table its cleaner. Use CSS for your websites layout. But again thats my opinion...

Standard and Best practice in dealing with Muliple/Complex Columns with Forms

I've want to know what is the best practice or approach in dealing with multiple and complex columns with a form inside.
here's an example of the form I'm dealing with
How to properly write a HTML markup for this? If I wrap every form element with a 'DIV' for every column it would take a lot 'DIVs' and styles; and the width for every column that is not repeating.
So what I did is, I put all form element in the table. And I think that is not the standard way to do it.
If your in my shoes,
How would you deal with the columns with non-repeating width?
There is no standard for complex forms, but there are plenty of blog posts claiming to have figured out the perfect way to approach this problem. Most of them are well thought out, but ultimately you have to pick the one you're most comfortable with. I have some suggestions though:
Check out the US postal service change of address form. It's surprisingly well done
If you have lots of forms, using a grid system like 960.gs, blueprint.css, or YUI grids (shudder) is an easy way to implement a form. However grid systems are definitely considered bloat if that's the only place you'll use them.
Do a search for "tableless forms" on Google. You will see a lot of different implementations. Choose the one you like.
I would probably put each form element in a list item within an unordered list (I think semantically, it is a list of input elements that need to be filled in.)
I would then add classes to them for positioning and width etc - the columned ones would need to be given a width and floated left...
so:
<ul>
<li class="iName"><label for="name">Full name:</label><input name="name"/></li>
<li class="iEmail"><label for="email">Email:</label><input name="email"/></li>
etc etc...
</ul>
I believe this would be semantically correct and the most accessible way to do it.

What's the best way to go from a Photoshop mockup to semantic HTML and CSS?

I generally use a manual process:
Look at the page, figure out the semantic elements, and build the HTML
Slice up the images I think I'll need
Start writing CSS
Tweak and repeat different steps as necessary
Got a better approach, or a tool?
I have a fairly natural way of coding. The key is to treat the page like a document or an article. If you think of it like this the following becomes logically clear:
The page title is a top level heading
Whether you make the site title or actual page title the h1 is up to you - personally I'd make About Us the h1 rather than Stack Overflow.
The navigation is a table of contents, and thus an ordered list - you may as well use an ol over a ul.
Section headers are h2, sections within those sections are h3s etc. Stack them up.
Use blockquotes and quotes where possible. Don't just surround it with ".
Don't use b and i. Use strong and em. This is because HTML is structural rather than presentational markup. Strong and emphasis tags should be used where you'd put emphasis on the word.
<label> your form elements.
Use <acronym>s and <abbr>s where possible, but only in the first instance.
The easiest: always, always give your images some alternate text.
There's lots of HTML tags you could use that you probably haven't - address for postal addresses, screen code output. Have a look at HTML Dog for some, it's my favourite reference.
That's just a few pointers, I'm sure I could think of more.
Oh, and if you want a challenge write your XHTML first, then write the CSS. When CSS-ing you aren't allowed to touch the HTML. It's actually harder than you think (but I've found it's made me quicker).
Well, when I build a website I tend to try and forget about the design completely while writing the HTML. I do this so I won't end up with any design-specific markup and so I can focus on the semantic meaning of the elements.
Some pointers how to markup things:
menu - use the UL (unordered list) element, since that's exactly what a menu is. an unordered list of choices. example:
<ul id="menu">
<li id="home">Home</li>
<li id="about">About</li>
</ul>
if you'd like an horizontal menu you could do this:
#menu li {
display: block;
float: left;
}
Logo - use a H1 (heading) element for the logo instead of an image.Example:
<div id="header">
<h1>My website</h1>
</div>
And the CSS (same technique can be applied to the menu above if you would like a menu with graphical items):
#header h1 {
display: block;
text-indent: -9999em;
width: 200px;
height: 100px;
background: transparent url(images/logo.png) no-repeat;
}
IDs and classes - use IDs to identify elements that you only have one instance of. Use class for identifying elements that you got several instances of.
Use a textual browser (for instance, lynx). If it makes sense to navigate in this way, you've done good when it comes to accessibility.
I hope this helps :)
I essentially do the same thing Jon does, but here are a few other ideas:
Use Guides in Photoshop (and lock to them). Figure out all of your dimensions for each box/ region ahead of time.
Collect all of your dimensions and color hex values into an info file (I use a txt file) that you can easily reference. This will reduce your alt-tab tax and selecting colors in Photoshop multiple times.
After all my Guides are in place, I slice out the entire website into my images folder, starting with photos and grouped elements, and ending with the various background tiles/images, should they exist. (Tip: Use ctrl-click on the layer preview to select that layer's content).
Notes on using Photoshop:
Use Guides or the Grid.
Use the Notes feature for any pertinent information
Always use Layer Groups for similar elements. We need to be able to turn entire regions off in one click. Put all 'header' content in one Layer Group.
Always name your layers.
You can put each page template in one PSD file and use nested Layer Groups to organize them. This way we don't have to setup all of our guides and notes for each page template on a site.
No shortcuts :) but everybody works slightly differently.
This tutorial that popped up in my feedreader yesterday shows the process from start to finish and might help people who have never done it before but as you are an old hand it's just about streamlining your own methods.
EDIT:
The listapart link certainly is more automated for 'flat' designs where both imageready and fireworks have had pretty good support from day one and it's got better and more semantic with every release but if you have a more complex design it's the twiddly bits that make the design what it is and these have to be done by hand.
I just thought it was worth pointing out that in addition to the excellent advice you've had so far I'd recommend getting a printed version of the design, using a red pen to mark up all the block elements on the design you think you can spot and sitting down with the designer for half an hour and talking through how they envisioned their design working for the use cases that don't fit the static design.
What happens when more text is put in the navigation?
Is this width fixed or fluid?
Is this content pane to the right fixed height or fluid? If it's fluid why did you put a background on it that can't be repeated?
You have a border extending down the page that breaks two otherwise connected elements. Visually it makes sense, but semantically I not can't just use an li to house both those elements. What do you think is more important?
It'll also help you spot potential problems that you might otherwise not have realised were going to be issues until your elbow deep in css.
Not only does it make your job easier after a few times doing it your designer will get a much stronger sense of what is involved in marking up their work - some designers have real trouble comprehending why something they think looks visually very simple will take a few days of css tweaking to make work.
Some of the designers i know, usually uses Illustrator to make the design elements.
This page shows how to do it a little more automated.
Also, get to know the "Layer Comps" feature. I use this for changing button states.
Create layer comps for normal, hover, and active.
In each of these, set up the effects/color overlays and visible layers which belong with that state.
Save for web: go to a different folder for each state, unless it's easier to rename each slice (otherwise your hover button slices will overwrite your regular slices).