Overlay Input on <p> or <div> - html

Question

Hopefully an easy question.
I have a <p> which has some styling on it to make it look like a UK registration plate.
I want to overlay an input field so the user can type in a reg.
Here's my fiddle
I'm struggling to get the overlay even when changing elements to absolute.
HTML:
<div>
<p class="reg">007 ABC</p>
<input id="vehicleReg" type="text" placeholder="Enter Vehicle Registration" />
</div>
CSS:
.reg {
background-color: #ec0;
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#ec0, #ca0);
border-radius: 6px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.75);
font-family: number_plate;
display: inline-block;
/*padding: 0 50px 0 100px;*/
width: 220px;
position: relative;
font-size: 28px;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 50px;
/*margin: 100px;*/
color: black;
/* text-indent: 10px;*/
}
.reg::after {
background-color: rgba(255,255,255,.25);
color: #ec0;
content: "\25CC";
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 32px;
left: 0;
height: 50%;
line-height: 70px;
width: 100%;
padding-left: 14px;
position: absolute;
}
.vehicleReg {
position: absolute;
right: 13%;
bottom: 17px;
width: 64%;
height: 31px;
background-color: transparent;
text-align:center;
}
Thanks

Answer 1

A bit slow but the following will keep your little euro image and put the input above your top fade:
html
<div class="reg"><input id="vehicleReg" type="text" placeholder="Reg No" /></div>
css
.reg {
background-color: #ec0;
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#ec0, #ca0);
border-radius: 6px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.75);
display: inline-block;
/*padding: 0 50px 0 100px;*/
width: 220px;
position: relative;
/*margin: 100px;*/
color: black;
/* text-indent: 10px;*/
text-align:center
}
.reg::after {
text-align:left;
background-color: rgba(255,255,255,.25);
color: #ec0;
content: "\25CC";
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 32px;
top:0;
left: 0;
height: 50%;
line-height: 70px;
width: 100%;
padding-left: 14px;
position: absolute;
}
#vehicleReg {
width: 70%;
margin:auto;
background-color: transparent;
border:0;
font-family: number_plate;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 50px;
font-size: 28px;
text-transform:uppercase;
position:relative; z-index:2;
}
Example

Answer 2

Additionally, you could style the placeholder text.
placeholder {
font-family: number_plate;
font-weight: bold;
font-size: 28px;
text-transform:uppercase;
color:black;
text-align:center;
}
JSFiddle

Answer 3

If you are positioning the input absolutely, you'll need to make it relative to a container div, in this case.
For example:
<div class="container">
<p class="reg">007 ABC</p>
<input id="vehicleReg" type="text" placeholder="Enter Vehicle Registration" />
</div>
.container {
position: relative;
}
See this:
DEMO

Answer 4

Do you mean something like this?
http://jsfiddle.net/zZUDN/8/
<div class="reg">
<input id="vehicleReg" type="text" placeholder="Enter Vehicle Registration" />
</div>
.reg {
border:none;
background-color: #ec0;
background: -webkit-linear-gradient(#ec0, #ca0);
border-radius: 6px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,.75);
font-family: number_plate;
display: inline-block;
/*padding: 0 50px 0 100px;*/
width: 220px;
position: relative;
font-size: 28px;
font-weight: bold;
line-height: 50px;
/*margin: 100px;*/
color: black;
/* text-indent: 10px;*/
}
.reg::after {
background-color: rgba(255,255,255,.25);
color: #ec0;
content: "\25CC";
font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 32px;
left: 0;
height: 50%;
line-height: 70px;
width: 100%;
padding-left: 14px;
position: absolute;
}
#vehicleReg {
width:100%;
line-height:45px;
font-size:28px;
border:none;
background-color: transparent;
text-align:center;
}

Answer 5

Slightly unrelated but if you are after the user to type in a registration plate number look into using the input attribute pattern and give it a max length of 8 characters.
<input type="text" pattern="[A-Za-z0-9]{2}[0-9]{2}[ ][A-Za-z]{3}" maxlength="8" />
That enforces the pattern that a registration requires 4 alphanumeric characters a space and 3 characters.
(Part of HTML5 only works in latest browsers. IE are slow to catch up)

Answer 6

Change
.vehicleReg {
position: absolute;
right: 13%;
bottom: 17px;
width: 64%;
height: 31px;
background-color: transparent;
text-align:center;
}
to
#vehicleReg {
position: absolute;
right: 13%;
bottom: 17px;
width: 64%;
height: 31px;
background-color: transparent;
text-align:center;
}
vehicleReg is the id of the input field, not the class.