Trouble aligning contact form - html

Question

I have been trying to edit this easy form to just look good for 3 hours now and Im still not quite there. I want the input fields to be on the same row as the labels naturally, but somehow the inputs are a bit lower than the labels and I cant seem to edit them with margins. What am I doing wrong?
Heres a snaggy picture of what the form looks like:
// CONTACT FORM
<label for="name"><p>Name:</p></label>
<input type="text" name="name" id="name" tabindex="1" />
<br/>
<label for="email"><p>Email:</p></label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" tabindex="2" />
<br/>
<label for="subject"><p>Subject:</p></label>
<input type="text" name="subject" id="subject" tabindex="3" />
<br/>
<label for="comments"><p>Comments:</p></label>
<textarea name="comments" id="comments" cols="45" rows="5" tabindex="4"></textarea>
<br/>
<label for="submit"></label>
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Submit" tabindex="5" />
<label for="reset"></label>
<input type="reset" name="reset" id="reset" value="Clear" tabindex="6" />
// CSS
label {
float: none;
font-size: 100%;
width: 250px; /* just this width evens out input box placement */
font-weight: bold;
}
input { /*I think these just fall in because they are naturally following the labels!*/
width: 250px;
padding:5px;
margin-top: -10px;
}
textarea {
width: 250px;
height: 150px;
resize:none;
}
guestbook {
margin-top:50px;
text-align:center;
font-size:26px;
color:#05924b;
font-family:Gisha;
}
gb p {
color:#05924b;
font-family:Gisha;
text-align:left;
margin-left:85px;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
}
// SOLUTION: Removed the "p" paragraph from within the form and adjusted the rest from CSS, added float:left to the different inputs fields and rows, lowered the label width so the input came closer, then calculated and put the correct margin-right to both input{} and textarea{} and last to #submit to get everything in nice order.
Heres a screenshot from the new code: http://snag.gy/PwpbQ.jpg
// CSS
/* Input */
label {
float: left;
font-size: 100%;
width: 50px; /* just this width evens out input box placement */
font-weight: bold;
margin: 2px 0;
padding:5px;
font-family: Gisha;
font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal;
text-decoration: none;
text-align: left;
}
input { /*I think these just fall in because they are naturally following the labels!*/
width: 300px;
padding:5px;
margin: 5px 0;
font-size:24px;
margin-right:192px;
}
textarea {
width: 300px;
height: 150px;
resize:none;
margin:5px 0;
padding:5px;
margin-right:192px;
}
#submit {
margin-right:225px;
}
/* End of input */

Answer 1

Remove all of the <p> tags from the labels. A <p> tag is a block level element, therefore it should not be nested within the inline element <label>. Block level elements also clear, meaning they do not allow content on either side (unless floated). I believe this is causing your issue.
<label for="name">Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="name" id="name" tabindex="1" />
<br/>
<label for="email">Email:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" tabindex="2" />
<br/>
<label for="subject">Subject:</label>
<input type="text" name="subject" id="subject" tabindex="3" />
<br/>
<label for="comments">Comments:</label>
<textarea name="comments" id="comments" cols="45" rows="5" tabindex="4"></textarea>
<br/>
<label for="submit"></label>
<input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Submit" tabindex="5" />
<label for="reset"></label>
<input type="reset" name="reset" id="reset" value="Clear" tabindex="6" />
Once the markup has been adjusted the label and input tags have no vertical spacing. To add vertical spacing you can add a margin to both elements.
label {
font-size: 100%;
width: 250px;
font-weight: bold;
margin: 2px 0;
}
input {
width: 250px;
padding:5px;
margin: 2px 0;
}
Example: http://jsfiddle.net/KZrXD/