Radio Button Alignment Issues - html

How do I bring my radio buttons closer to the labels?
input[type="radio"]{
float: left;
width: auto;
margin-left: 3em;
}
<fieldset id="payment_method">
<legend>Payment Method</legend>
<input type="radio" name="payment_method"value="Bill Me">
<label for= "payment1"> Bill Me</label>
<input type="radio" name="payment_method"value="Bill Me">
<label for= "payment2">Credit Card</label>
</fieldset>

You do not need to float your inputs, you can just give the labels a negative margin instead like so:
label {
margin-left: -1px;
}

Just don't apply any rules to your radio input. As all form elements are non Block-level elements (excluding form itself) so you don't need to float them (in your case) and remove the extra margin. See the fiddle
input[type="radio"] {
/* No styling */
}

I like wrapping my input/label pairs in a <div> for easier styling. After that you could just remove the line break between the label and input tags:
<fieldset id="payment_method">
<legend>Payment Method</legend>
<div class="fieldgroup">
<input type="radio" name="payment_method"value="Bill Me"><label for= "payment1">Bill Me</label>
</div><!--/.fieldgroup-->
<div class="fieldgroup">
<input type="radio" name="payment_method"value="Bill Me"><label for= "payment2">Credit Card</label>
</div><!--/.fieldgroup-->
</fieldset>
It's not terribly pretty, but it is the most cross-browser compatible solution, since each browser treats inline-block spacing differently.
Or, if you want to keep your code tidy, you can use floats like you tried originally:
CodePen
input[type='radio'],
label {
float: left;
}
.fieldgroup:after {
content: "";
display: block;
clear: both;
}

Related

Why does <legend> behave differently from <div>?

Consider this simple example, where we wish to layout a <legend> and its associated input content side-by-side, with no border, rather than using the default <fieldset> display. First, the markup that works as intended:
fieldset {
border: 0;
display: flex;
}
<form>
<fieldset>
<div>
<legend>Choose your favorite monster</legend>
</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Now we think, "Isn't that <div> around the <legend> superfluous?" That is, can't we simply remove it, change the <legend> to display:block, and expect the same behavior?
It turns out we cannot:
fieldset {
border: 0;
display: flex;
}
legend {
display: block;
}
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Choose your favorite monster</legend>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
It now displays top-to-bottom, rather than side-by-side? But why? And is there a way to make it display side-by-side without the extra <div> around the <legend>?
EDIT:
Please note: I am looking for a solution that allows me to layout the two elements ("legend" and "input content") using flexbox. In particular, floating the <legend> is not a valid solution for my use case.
display: contents might be the best candidate here as it will remove the tag to keep only its content so no more issue with the behavior of <legend> tag. Then the flexbox algorithm will automatically make the text as an anonymous flex item so your legend is a flex item.
The element itself does not generate any boxes, but its children and pseudo-elements still generate boxes and text runs as normal. For the purposes of box generation and layout, the element must be treated as if it had been replaced in the element tree by its contents ref
fieldset {
border: 0;
display: flex;
}
legend {
display: contents;
}
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Choose your favorite monster</legend>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Set the legend to float:left.
The rules for fieldset are somewhat "magic", but are described in the HTML5 rendering section.
If the [fieldset] element's box has a child box that matches the conditions in the list below, then the first such child box is the 'fieldset' element's rendered legend:
The child is a legend element.
The child's used value of 'float' is 'none'.
The child's used value of 'position' is not 'absolute' or 'fixed'.
position:absolute and position:fixed causes other issues. But float is perfect, because, since it's a flex item, it won't actually behave like a float, but as a regular flex item. I've added justify-content:space-around to demonstrate that that's actually happening.
fieldset {
border: 0;
display: flex;
justify-content:space-around;
}
legend {
display: block;
float:left;
}
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Choose your favorite monster</legend>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Approach 1 (the floating <legend> hack)
As #Alohci discovered, when using <legend>, the float: left hack is (still) unavoidable.
See this answer by #BorisZbarsky from 2011, more than a decade ago and long before CSS Flexbox was properly established:
Legends are special. In particular, their default rendering can't be described in CSS, so browsers use non-CSS means of rendering them. What that means is that a statically positioned legend will be treated like a legend and be separate from the actual content of the fieldset.
Source: Why won't my <legend> element display inline?
Since a float: left declaration cannot be avoided, the most concise CSS I came up with is:
fieldset {
display: flex;
border: none;
}
legend {
float: left; /* Hack to prevent browsers applying special <legend> styling */
}
Working Example:
fieldset {
display: flex;
border: none;
}
legend {
float: left; /* Hack to prevent browsers applying special <legend> styling */
}
legend::after {
content: ':';
}
<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Choose your favorite monster</legend>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
Further Reading:
This technical blogger ran up against the same issue. It seems like the unique positioning behaviour of <legend> has been an issue for a long time:
https://morgan.cugerone.com/blog/how-to-make-a-fieldset-legend-inline/
Approach 2 (the ARIA alternative)
The <legend> element has undisputed semantic value, but we can deploy:
aria-labelledby; or
aria-describedby
in another element (eg. <div>) to replicate the semantic value of <legend>.
If we swap out <legend> for <div id="my-legend"> and support with ARIA, we gain stylability without losing semantics.
Working Example:
fieldset {
display: flex;
border: none;
}
fieldset div:first-of-type::after {
content: ':';
}
<form>
<fieldset aria-describedby="my-legend">
<div id="my-legend">Choose your favorite monster</div>
<div>
<input type="radio" id="kraken" name="monster">
<label for="kraken">Kraken</label><br />
<input type="radio" id="sasquatch" name="monster">
<label for="sasquatch">Sasquatch</label><br />
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>

What to use instead of the <br> tag?

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

How to correctly style a form?

I'm really not that good at CSS, and I want to know how to correctly style a form in a manner that it puts each single text input and label in a line. like this :
<label for="input1">...</label>
<input type="text" id="input1"/>
<label for="input2">...</label>
<input type="text" id="input2"/>
<label for="input3">...</label>
<input type="text" id="input3"/>
<label for="input3">...</label>
<input type="text" id="input3"/>
and it would be shown in the webpage like :
(label)(input)
(label)(input)
(label)(input)
(label)(input)
<label>foo</label>
<input type="text"/>
<label>foo</label>
<input type="text"/>​
<style>
input, label { float:left }
label { clear:left; }
</style>
​
http://jsfiddle.net/RpRS5/
I recommend this tutorial by A List Apart about Prettier Accessible Forms. You can also use a definition list with some custom styling, e.g.,
<dl><dt><label></label></dt>
<dd><input></dd></dl>
And something like:
dl dt {
float: left;
width: 8em;
}
Edit: to sum up the A List Apart article, they suggest you put form fields in an ordered list ol. Labels are displayed as inline-block so they appear horizontally next to their associated fields.
Put them in a list, or in a structure like a list (that is to say, wrap each "row" in a div).
Put your inputs inside the label element and then you can simply display: block them or float them, I prefer display but it would be easy enough to change.
<label>Hello <input type="radio" name="what" value="Hello" /></label>
http://jsfiddle.net/Bpxfp/
http://jsfiddle.net/ud7YE/1/
you can control the space between the label and input by varying the width of the wrapper. Just set the height of the label and the top margin of the input same in value but negative
I find enclosing label and input or select tags in a div or list. And the label and select tags should be of type inline-block
<div>
<label>Name: </label><input type="text" />
</div>
<div>
<label>Place: </label><input type="text" />
</div>
CSS:
label {
display: inline-block;
}
input {
display: inline-block;
padding: 2px;
}
div {
display: block;
margin: 2px 0;
}
This would work out well.

Layout form fields without tables

I have a very simple HTML layout I'm trying to implement. It is something like this:
A Label: [Input ]
Another Label: [Input ]
The Last Label: [Input ]
In the past, I'd just go ahead and use a table for this. Otherwise, it's a pain getting the input controls to line up correctly.
Can anyone suggest a simple and reliable way to implement this layout without using a table?
Thanks.
You can use display: inline-block
<style type="text/css">
label { display: inline-block; width: 200px; }
ul { list-style: none; }
</style>
<ul>
<li><label for="input1">A Label:</label> <input type="text" name="input1" id="input1"></li>
<li><label for="input2">Another Label:</label> <input type="text" name="input2" id="input2"></li>
<li><label for="input3">The Last Label:</label> <input type="text" name="input3" id="input3"></li>
</ul>
However, in order for this to line up vertically, you either have to wrap the label-input pairs in another tag (such as <li> or <div>) or put linebreaks after the inputs.
<style>
label { width: 200px; float:left; clear:left; }
input { float:left;}
</style>
<form>
<label for="fullname">Full Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="fullname" id="fullname">
<label for="email">Email Address:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email">
</form>
With the added benefit that, if the horizontal space isn't sufficient, the inputs will wrap below the labels.
http://jsbin.com/anuziq (narrow down your browser window)
If you don't actually want them to wrap around, I suggest this approach:
<style>
label { white-space: nowrap; }
span { width: 200px; display: inline-block; }
</style>
<form>
<label>
<span>Full Name:</span>
<input type="text" name="fullname">
</label>
<label>
<span>Email Address:</span>
<input type="text" name="email">
</label>
</form>
From my experience, structuring the HTML like that usually allows for any layout you can possibly think of. Want the inputs always below the label? Use display:block on the span elements. Want the text to the right of the input? Just use float:right on the span.
Bonus here is that you don't need the for and id attributes to connect the label with the input. They're only really necessary, if you can't put the label right next to the input, like in 2 separate table cells.

CSS format for checkboxes

I have a list of checkboxes, each one with a label:
<input type="checkbox" id="patient-birth_city" name="patient-birth_city" />
<label for="patient-birth_city">(_PATIENT_BIRTH_CITY_)</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="patient-birth_state" name="patient-birth_state" />
<label for="patient-birth_state">(_PATIENT_BIRTH_STATE_)</label>
<input type="checkbox" id="patient-birth_country" name="patient-birth_country" />
<label for="patient-birth_country">(_PATIENT_BIRTH_COUNTRY_)</label>
Without using any CSS they are showed in the same line (I suppose they have a default "inline" or "block-inline" display). The problem is I can't modify HTML structure and I need each pair checkbox-label appear in a new line. Like this. Is it possible using only CSS?
The good thing about label tags is you can wrap the input elements:
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="birth_city" name="birth_city" />
City
</label>
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="birth_state" name="birth_state" />
State
</label>
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="birth_country" name="birth_country" />
Country
</label>
And if you add the following CSS:
label {
display: block;
}
It will display it how you want.
Demo here
As you CAN'T edit your HTML, this CSS would work:
input, label {
float: left;
}
input {
clear: both;
}
Demo here
Using float:left and clear:left you can do this with only css.
Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/VW529/2/
input {margin:3px;}
input, label {float:left;}
input {clear:left;}
The only problem is that the example does not show more information of parent elements, giving the container element overflow:hidden and/or clear:both might be needed to prevent floating elements next to the last label. (edited jsfiddle code with container div)