Imageless Custom Checkboxes and Radio Buttons with CSS3: Revisited

HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript

The Fine Art of Web Development by Martin Ivanov

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.

css-pages-imageless-css3-custom-checkboxes-and-radio-buttons

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!

Related Posts

Categories and Tags
Links

© 2006 - 2023 Martin Ivanov