Imageless Custom Checkboxes and Radio Buttons with CSS3: Revisited

I’ve always been interested in techniques for adding custom look and feel to form elements, and through the years I’ve offered a number of such solutions. In today’s post I will share my latest insight in check box and radio button styling, which is an improved version of another technique I’ve offered sometime ago, but this time with a fallback for non-CSS3 browsers and more elegant looks and code.

The CSS

As you can see, I am using the CSS3 :root element, which is ignored by non-CSS3 browsers, so they will display the normal check boxes and radios. The code listing below contains only official CSS properties, so maybe it’s a good idea to download the cross-browser solution from this link.

[sourcecode language=”css”]
:root .css3-radios label,
:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"] + span,
:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"] + span::before,
:root .css3-checkboxes label,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"] + span,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"] + span::before
{
    display: inline-block;
    vertical-align: middle;
}

:root .css3-radios,
:root .css3-checkboxes
{
    position: relative;
}

:root .css3-radios label *,
:root .css3-checkboxes label *
{
    cursor: pointer;
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"],
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"]
{
    opacity: 0;
    position: absolute;
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"] + span,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"] + span
{
    font: normal 11px/14px Arial, Sans-serif;
    color: #333;
}

:root .css3-radios label:hover span::before,
:root .css3-checkboxes label:hover span::before
{
    box-shadow: 0 0 2px #ccc;
}

:root .css3-radios label:hover span,
:root .css3-checkboxes label:hover span
{
    color: #000;
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"] + span::before,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"] + span::before
{
    content: "";
    width: 12px;
    height: 12px;
    margin: 0 4px 0 0;
    border: solid 1px #a8a8a8;
    line-height: 14px;
    text-align: center;
    border-radius: 100%;
    background: #f6f6f6;
    background: radial-gradient(#f6f6f6, #dfdfdf);
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"]:checked + span::before,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"]:checked + span::before
{
    color: #666;
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"]:disabled + span,
:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"]:disabled + span
{
    cursor: default;
    opacity: .4;
}

:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"] + span::before
{
    border-radius: 2px;
}

:root .css3-radios input[type="radio"]:checked + span::before
{
    content: "2022";
    font-size: 24px;
}

:root .css3-checkboxes input[type="checkbox"]:checked + span::before
{
    content: "2714";
    font-size: 12px;
}
[/sourcecode]

The Markup

Nothing fancy here, just a regular semantic form without any additional markup, supporting natively keyboard navigation and accessibility intact.

[sourcecode language=”xml”]
<!– markup for custom radio buttons –>
<ul class="css3-radios">
    <li><label><input type="radio" checked="checked" name="radios-01" /><span>checked radio button</span></label></li>
    <li><label><input type="radio" name="radios-01" /><span>unchecked radio button</span></label></li>
    <li><label><input type="radio" name="radios-01" disabled="disabled" /><span>disabled radio button</span></label></li>
</ul>
<!– / markup for custom radio buttons –>
<!– markup for custom check boxes –>
<ul class="css3-checkboxes">
    <li><label><input type="checkbox" checked="checked" name="checkbox-01" /><span>selected checkbox</span></label></li>
    <li><label><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox-02" /><span>unselected checkbox</span></label></li>
    <li><label><input type="checkbox" name="checkbox-03" disabled="disabled" /><span>disabled checkbox</span></label></li>
</ul>
<!– / markup for custom check boxes –>
[/sourcecode]

What do you Think?

If you like the solution, you can try the demo or get it from this link. In case you are interested in other stuff I do, you can follow me on Twitter, visit my personal website or check my Web UI components.

Have a great weekend!

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