Some readers of my blog hate html tables and often ask to me which is the better way to design FORMS with CSS, without using tables to place each form element in a table's cell.
How I said some time ago... tables are not evil. Sincerly, in some case I used pure CSS code to design forms but, in general, I prefer to use tables. It's simpler and faster than use only CSS property "to simulate" a table structure. In any case, for CSS lovers, this tutorial illustrates a proposal about how to design a pure CSS form without using html tables.
You can download the source code and use it in your web projects.
Download source code
Step 1: HTML Code
Create a new page index.html and copy and past this code into the tag <body>:
How you can see from the code above, the structure of our CSS form is the following:
I used <label> for the name of each input element and <span> tag for the short description. All labels and input elements have float CSS property set to left;
Step 2: CSS Code
Copy and paste the following CSS code in the <head> tag of your page:
body{
font-family:"Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:12px;
}
p, h1, form, button{border:0; margin:0; padding:0;}
.spacer{clear:both; height:1px;}
/* ----------- My Form ----------- */
.myform{
margin:0 auto;
width:400px;
padding:14px;
}
/* ----------- stylized ----------- */
#stylized{
border:solid 2px #b7ddf2;
background:#ebf4fb;
}
#stylized h1 {
font-size:14px;
font-weight:bold;
margin-bottom:8px;
}
#stylized p{
font-size:11px;
color:#666666;
margin-bottom:20px;
border-bottom:solid 1px #b7ddf2;
padding-bottom:10px;
}
#stylized label{
display:block;
font-weight:bold;
text-align:right;
width:140px;
float:left;
}
#stylized .small{
color:#666666;
display:block;
font-size:11px;
font-weight:normal;
text-align:right;
width:140px;
}
#stylized input{
float:left;
font-size:12px;
padding:4px 2px;
border:solid 1px #aacfe4;
width:200px;
margin:2px 0 20px 10px;
}
#stylized button{
clear:both;
margin-left:150px;
width:125px;
height:31px;
background:#666666 url(img/button.png) no-repeat;
text-align:center;
line-height:31px;
color:#FFFFFF;
font-size:11px;
font-weight:bold;
}
This is only a proposal for the form layout. You can reuse this code changing all properties how you prefer.
Download source code
Related Post
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How I said some time ago... tables are not evil. Sincerly, in some case I used pure CSS code to design forms but, in general, I prefer to use tables. It's simpler and faster than use only CSS property "to simulate" a table structure. In any case, for CSS lovers, this tutorial illustrates a proposal about how to design a pure CSS form without using html tables.
You can download the source code and use it in your web projects.
Download source codeStep 1: HTML Code
Create a new page index.html and copy and past this code into the tag <body>:
<div id="stylized" class="myform">
<form id="form" name="form" method="post" action="index.html">
<h1>Sign-up form</h1>
<p>This is the basic look of my form without table</p>
<label>Name
<span class="small">Add your name</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="name" id="name" />
<label>Email
<span class="small">Add a valid address</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" />
<label>Password
<span class="small">Min. size 6 chars</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="password" id="password" />
<button type="submit">Sign-up</button>
<div class="spacer"></div>
</form>
</div>
<form id="form" name="form" method="post" action="index.html">
<h1>Sign-up form</h1>
<p>This is the basic look of my form without table</p>
<label>Name
<span class="small">Add your name</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="name" id="name" />
<label>Email
<span class="small">Add a valid address</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="email" id="email" />
<label>Password
<span class="small">Min. size 6 chars</span>
</label>
<input type="text" name="password" id="password" />
<button type="submit">Sign-up</button>
<div class="spacer"></div>
</form>
</div>
How you can see from the code above, the structure of our CSS form is the following:
I used <label> for the name of each input element and <span> tag for the short description. All labels and input elements have float CSS property set to left;
Step 2: CSS Code
Copy and paste the following CSS code in the <head> tag of your page:
body{
font-family:"Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size:12px;
}
p, h1, form, button{border:0; margin:0; padding:0;}
.spacer{clear:both; height:1px;}
/* ----------- My Form ----------- */
.myform{
margin:0 auto;
width:400px;
padding:14px;
}
/* ----------- stylized ----------- */
#stylized{
border:solid 2px #b7ddf2;
background:#ebf4fb;
}
#stylized h1 {
font-size:14px;
font-weight:bold;
margin-bottom:8px;
}
#stylized p{
font-size:11px;
color:#666666;
margin-bottom:20px;
border-bottom:solid 1px #b7ddf2;
padding-bottom:10px;
}
#stylized label{
display:block;
font-weight:bold;
text-align:right;
width:140px;
float:left;
}
#stylized .small{
color:#666666;
display:block;
font-size:11px;
font-weight:normal;
text-align:right;
width:140px;
}
#stylized input{
float:left;
font-size:12px;
padding:4px 2px;
border:solid 1px #aacfe4;
width:200px;
margin:2px 0 20px 10px;
}
#stylized button{
clear:both;
margin-left:150px;
width:125px;
height:31px;
background:#666666 url(img/button.png) no-repeat;
text-align:center;
line-height:31px;
color:#FFFFFF;
font-size:11px;
font-weight:bold;
}
This is only a proposal for the form layout. You can reuse this code changing all properties how you prefer.
Download source codeRelated Post
Table's anatomy: why tables are not so bad
Are you a CSS fanatic?
Improve form usability with auto messages
Read More
