Custom checkbox using only CSS and HTML - html

Question

I need to create a custom checkbox using only html and CSS. So far I have:
HTML/CSS:
.checkbox-custom {
opacity: 0;
position: absolute;
}
.checkbox-custom,
.checkbox-custom-label {
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
margin: 5px;
cursor: pointer;
}
.checkbox-custom + .checkbox-custom-label:before {
content: '';
background: #fff;
border-radius: 5px;
border: 2px solid #ddd;
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 10px;
height: 10px;
padding: 2px;
margin-right: 10px;
text-align: center;
}
.checkbox-custom:checked + .checkbox-custom-label:before {
content: "";
display: inline-block;
width: 1px;
height: 5px;
border: solid blue;
border-width: 0 3px 3px 0;
transform: rotate(45deg);
-webkit-transform: rotate(45deg);
-ms-transform: rotate(45deg);
border-radius: 0px;
margin: 0px 15px 5px 5px;
}
<div>
<input id="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-1" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom-label">First Choice</label>
</div>
<div>
<input id="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-2" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom-label">Second Choice</label>
</div>
The checked checkbox should be a checkmark with the square bordered around it instead of just a checkmark. Searching for answers, I have only found cases where the checkmark is displayed using a UTF-8 character or an image. I am not able to use either of these for what I am trying to accomplish. I am only able to use plain CSS and HTML. Any suggestions?
codepen here: http://codepen.io/alisontague/pen/EPXagW?editors=110

Answer 1

The problem is that you are using the same pseudo element for the square border and the checkmark. The simple solution would be to continue using the :before pseudo element for the border, and then use an :after pseudo element for the checkmark.
Updated Example
You would have to absolutely position the :after pseudo element relative to the parent .checkbox-custom label element.
Here is the updated code:
.checkbox-custom {
display: none;
}
.checkbox-custom-label {
display: inline-block;
position: relative;
vertical-align: middle;
margin: 5px;
cursor: pointer;
}
.checkbox-custom + .checkbox-custom-label:before {
content: '';
background: #fff;
border-radius: 5px;
border: 2px solid #ddd;
display: inline-block;
vertical-align: middle;
width: 10px; height: 10px;
padding: 2px; margin-right: 10px;
}
.checkbox-custom:checked + .checkbox-custom-label:after {
content: "";
padding: 2px;
position: absolute;
width: 1px;
height: 5px;
border: solid blue;
border-width: 0 3px 3px 0;
transform: rotate(45deg);
top: 2px; left: 5px;
}
<h3>Checkboxes</h3>
<div>
<input id="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-1" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom-label">First Choice</label>
</div>
<div>
<input id="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-2" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom-label">Second Choice</label>
</div>

Answer 2

My previous answer is wrong because it uses the ::before pseudo-element selector on an element that isn't a container. Thanks to #BoltClock for pointing out my error. So, I came up with another solution that uses the Checkbox Hack and the CSS3 sibling selector (~).
Demo at CodePen
input[type=checkbox] {
position: absolute;
top: -9999px;
left: -9999px;
}
input[type=checkbox] ~ label::before {
content: '\2713';
display: inline-block;
text-align: center;
color: white;
line-height: 1em;
width: 1em;
height: 1em;
border: 1px inset silver;
border-radius: 0.25em;
margin: 0.25em;
}
input[type=checkbox]:checked ~ label::before {
color: black;
}
<form name="checkbox-form" id="checkbox-form">
<div>
<input id="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-1" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-1" class="checkbox-custom-label">First Choice</label>
</div>
<div>
<input id="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom" name="checkbox-2" type="checkbox">
<label for="checkbox-2" class="checkbox-custom-label">Second Choice</label>
</div>
</form>
I didn't use StackOverflow's "Run Code-Snippet" functionality because it does something weird when I run it. I think it's because of the checkbox hack.

Answer 3

Custom checkbox using only HTML and CSS along with three checkbox states (checked, unchecked and half checked or unchecked(if it's used in a group of checkboxes))
<label class="checkboxcontainer"> one
<input type="checkbox">
<span class="checkmark"></span>
</label>
.checkboxcontainer input {
display: none;
}
.checkboxcontainer {
display: inlin-block;
padding-left: 30px;
position: relative;
cursor: pointer;
user-select: none;
}
.checkboxcontainer .checkmark {
display: inlin-block;
width: 25px;
height: 25px;
background: #eee;
position: absolute;
left: 0;
top: 0;
}
.checkboxcontainer input:checked+.checkmark {
background-color: #2196fc;
}
.checkboxcontainer input:checked+.checkmark:after {
content: "";
position: absolute;
height: 4px;
width: 9px;
border-left: 3px solid white;
border-bottom: 3px solid white;
top: 45%;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%) rotate(-45deg);
}
.checkboxcontainer input:indeterminate+.checkmark:after {
content: "";
position: absolute;
height: 0px;
width: 9px;
border-left: 3px solid white;
border-bottom: 3px solid white;
top: 45%;
left: 50%;
transform: translate(-50%, -50%) rotate(180deg);
}
Jsfiddle: Demo

Answer 4

.checkbox-custom {
position: relative;
}
.checkbox-custom input[type=checkbox] {
display: none;
}
.checkbox-custom input[type=checkbox]~b {
cursor: pointer;
outline: 0;
position: relative;
display: inline-block;
margin: 4px 1px 0;
background-color: #ffffff;
border: 2px solid #ad823a;
width: 24px;
height: 24px;
vertical-align: middle;
line-height: 1;
text-align: center;
font-size: 20px;
color: #ad823a;
}
.checkbox-custom input[type=checkbox]:checked~b:after {
content: '\2713';
}
<div class="checkbox-custom">
<label>
<input type="checkbox">
<b></b>
<span>app 1</span>
</label>
</div>
<div class="checkbox-custom">
<label>
<input type="checkbox">
<b></b>
<span>app 1</span>
</label>
</div>