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href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Basic_HTML_syntax">Basic HTML syntax</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Webpage_metadata">What's in the head? Webpage metadata</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Headings_and_paragraphs">Headings and paragraphs in HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Emphasis_and_importance">Emphasis and importance</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Lists">Lists</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Structuring_documents">Structuring documents</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Advanced_text_features">Advanced text features</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Creating_links">Creating links</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Marking_up_a_letter">Challenge: Marking up a letter</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Structuring_a_page_of_content">Challenge: Structuring a page of content</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_images">HTML images</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_video_and_audio">HTML video and audio</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Mozilla_splash_page">Challenge: Mozilla splash page</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_table_basics">HTML table basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Table_accessibility">HTML table accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Planet_data_table">Challenge: Structuring a planet data table</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_forms">Forms and buttons in HTML</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Debugging_HTML">Debugging HTML</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics">CSS styling basics</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/What_is_CSS">What is CSS?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Getting_started">Getting started with CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Styling_a_bio_page">Challenge: Styling a biography page</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Basic_selectors">Basic CSS selectors</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Attribute_selectors">Attribute selectors</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Pseudo_classes_and_elements">Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Combinators">Combinators</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Box_model">The box model</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Handling_conflicts">Handling conflicts</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Values_and_units">CSS values and units</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Sizing">Sizing items in CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Backgrounds_and_borders">Backgrounds and borders</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Overflow">Overflowing content</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Images_media_forms">Images, media, and form elements</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Tables">Styling tables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Debugging_CSS">Debugging CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Fundamental_CSS_comprehension">Challenge: Fundamental CSS comprehension</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Fancy_letterheaded_paper">Challenge: Creating fancy letterheaded paper</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Cool-looking_box">Challenge: A cool-looking box</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling">CSS text styling</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Fundamentals">Fundamental text and font styling</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Styling_lists">Styling lists</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Styling_links">Styling links</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Web_fonts">Web fonts</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Typesetting_a_homepage">Challenge: Typesetting a community school homepage</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout">CSS layout</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Introduction">Introduction to CSS layout</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Floats">Floats</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Positioning">Positioning</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Flexbox">Flexbox</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Grids">CSS grid layout</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design">Responsive design</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Media_queries">Media query fundamentals</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Fundamental_Layout_Comprehension">Challenge: Fundamental layout comprehension</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting">Dynamic scripting with JavaScript</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/What_is_JavaScript">What is JavaScript?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/A_first_splash">A first splash into JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/What_went_wrong">What went wrong? Troubleshooting JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Variables">Storing the information you need — Variables</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Math">Basic math in JavaScript — numbers and operators</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Strings">Handling text — strings in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Useful_string_methods">Useful string methods</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Arrays">Arrays</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Silly_story_generator">Challenge: Silly story generator</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Conditionals">Making decisions in your code — conditionals</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Loops">Looping code</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Functions">Functions — reusable blocks of code</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Build_your_own_function">Build your own function</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Return_values">Function return values</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Events">Introduction to events</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Event_bubbling">Event bubbling</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Image_gallery">Challenge: Image gallery</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Object_basics">JavaScript object basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/DOM_scripting">DOM scripting introduction</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Network_requests">Making network requests with JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/JSON">Working with JSON</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Debugging_JavaScript">Debugging JavaScript and handling errors</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries">JavaScript frameworks and libraries</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/Introduction">Introduction to client-side frameworks</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/Main_features">Framework main features</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_getting_started">Getting started with React</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_todo_list_beginning">Beginning our React todo list</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_components">Componentizing our React app</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_interactivity_events_state">React interactivity: Events and state</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_interactivity_filtering_conditional_rendering">React interactivity: Editing, filtering, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_accessibility">Accessibility in React</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_resources">React resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility">Accessibility</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/What_is_accessibility">What is accessibility?</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Tooling">Accessibility tooling and assistive technology</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/HTML">HTML: A good basis for accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/CSS_and_JavaScript">CSS and JavaScript accessibility best practices</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/WAI-ARIA_basics">WAI-ARIA basics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Multimedia">Accessible multimedia</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Mobile">Mobile accessibility</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Accessibility_troubleshooting">Challenge: Accessibility troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Design_for_developers">Design for developers</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Version_control">Version control</a></li><li class="section"><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions">Extension modules</a></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects">Advanced JavaScript objects</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object_prototypes">Object prototypes</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object-oriented_programming">Object-oriented programming</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Classes_in_JavaScript">Classes in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object_building_practice">Object building practice</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Adding_bouncing_balls_features">Challenge: Adding features to our bouncing balls demo</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs">Client-side web APIs</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Introduction">Introduction to web APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Video_and_audio_APIs">Video and Audio APIs</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Drawing_graphics">Drawing graphics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Client-side_storage">Client-side storage</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Third_party_APIs">Third-party APIs</a></li></ol></details></li><li 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href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/django_assessment_blog">Assessment: DIY Django mini blog</a></li></ol></details></li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs">Express web framework (Node.js)</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Introduction">Express/Node introduction</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/development_environment">Setting up a Node development environment</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Tutorial_local_library_website">Express Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/skeleton_website">Express Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a 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to automated testing</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Your_own_automation_environment">Setting up your own test automation environment</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Transform_animate">Transform and animate CSS</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Security_privacy">Security and privacy</a></li><li class="section">Further resources</li><li class="toggle"><details><summary><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto">How to solve common problems</a></summary><ol><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_HTML_problems">Solve common HTML problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_CSS_problems">Solve common CSS problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_JavaScript_problems">Solve common JavaScript problems</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Web_mechanics">Web mechanics</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Tools_and_setup">Tools and setup</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Design_and_accessibility">Design and accessibility</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/About">About</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Educators">Resources for educators</a></li><li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Changelog">Changelog</a></li></ol></div></div><section class="place side"></section></nav></aside><div class="toc-container"><aside class="toc"><nav><div class="document-toc-container"><section class="document-toc"><header><h2 class="document-toc-heading">In this article</h2></header><ul class="document-toc-list"><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#appearance_controlling_os-level_styling">appearance: controlling OS-level styling</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements">What can be done about the "ugly" elements?</a></li><li class="document-toc-item "><a class="document-toc-link" href="#summary">Summary</a></li></ul></section></div></nav></aside><section class="place side"></section></div></div><main id="content" class="main-content "><article class="main-page-content" lang="en-US"><header><h1>Advanced form styling</h1></header><div class="section-content"><ul class="prev-next"><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms"><span class="button-wrap"> Previous </span></a></li><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms"><span class="button-wrap"> Overview: Web forms</span></a></li><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes"><span class="button-wrap"> Next </span></a></li></ul> <p>In this article, we will see what can be done with CSS to style the types of form control that are more difficult to style — the "bad" and "ugly" categories. As we saw <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms">in the previous article</a>, text fields and buttons are perfectly easy to style; now we will dig into styling the more problematic bits.</p> <figure class="table-container"><table> <tbody> <tr> <th scope="row">Prerequisites:</th> <td> A basic understanding of <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content">HTML</a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics">CSS</a>. </td> </tr> <tr> <th scope="row">Objective:</th> <td> To understand what parts of forms are hard to style, and why; to learn what can be done to customize them. </td> </tr> </tbody> </table></figure> <p>To recap what we said in the previous article, we have:</p> <p><strong>The bad</strong>: Some elements are more difficult to style, requiring more complex CSS or some more specific tricks:</p> <ul> <li>Checkboxes and radio buttons</li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/search"><code><input type="search"></code></a></li> </ul> <p><strong>The ugly</strong>: Some elements can't be styled thoroughly using CSS. These include:</p> <ul> <li>Elements involved in creating dropdown widgets, including <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/select"><code><select></code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/option"><code><option></code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/optgroup"><code><optgroup></code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist"><code><datalist></code></a>.</li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/color"><code><input type="color"></code></a></li> <li>Date-related controls such as <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local"><code><input type="datetime-local"></code></a></li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/range"><code><input type="range"></code></a></li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/file"><code><input type="file"></code></a></li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress"><code><progress></code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter"><code><meter></code></a></li> </ul> <p>Let's first talk about the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance"><code>appearance</code></a> property, which is pretty useful for making all of the above more stylable.</p></div><section aria-labelledby="appearance_controlling_os-level_styling"><h2 id="appearance_controlling_os-level_styling"><a href="#appearance_controlling_os-level_styling">appearance: controlling OS-level styling</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>In the previous article we said that historically, the styling of web form controls was largely taken from the underlying operating system, which is part of the problem with customizing the look of these controls.</p> <p>The <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance"><code>appearance</code></a> property was created as a way to control what OS- or system-level styling was applied to web form controls. By far the most helpful value, and probably the only one you'll use, is <code>none</code>. This stops any control you apply it to from using system-level styling, as much as possible, and lets you build up the styles yourself using CSS.</p> <p>For example, let's take the following controls:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><form> <p> <label for="search">search: </label> <input id="search" name="search" type="search" /> </p> <p> <label for="text">text: </label> <input id="text" name="text" type="text" /> </p> <p> <label for="date">date: </label> <input id="date" name="date" type="datetime-local" /> </p> <p> <label for="radio">radio: </label> <input id="radio" name="radio" type="radio" /> </p> <p> <label for="checkbox">checkbox: </label> <input id="checkbox" name="checkbox" type="checkbox" /> </p> <p><input type="submit" value="submit" /></p> <p><input type="button" value="button" /></p> </form> </code></pre></div> <p>Applying the following CSS to them removes system-level styling.</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input { appearance: none; } </code></pre></div> <p>The following live example shows you what they look like in your system — default on the left, and with the above CSS applied on the right (<a href="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/appearance-tester.html" class="external" target="_blank">find it here also</a> if you want to test it on other systems).</p> <iframe width="100%" height="400" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/appearance-tester.html" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p>In most cases, the effect is to remove the stylized border, which makes CSS styling a bit easier, but isn't really essential. In a couple of cases — search and radio buttons/checkboxes, it becomes way more useful. We'll look at those now.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="taming_search_boxes"><h3 id="taming_search_boxes"><a href="#taming_search_boxes">Taming search boxes</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/search"><code><input type="search"></code></a> is basically just a text input, so why is <code>appearance: none;</code> useful here? The answer is that Safari search boxes have some styling restrictions — you can't adjust their <code>height</code> or <code>font-size</code> freely, for example.</p> <p>This can be fixed using our friend <code>appearance: none;</code>, which disables the default appearance:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="search"] { appearance: none; } </code></pre></div> <p>In the example below, you can see two identical styled search boxes. The right one has <code>appearance: none;</code> applied, and the left one doesn't. If you look at it in Safari on macOS you'll see that the left one isn't sized properly.</p> <iframe width="100%" height="200" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/search-appearance.html" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p>Interestingly, setting border/background on the search field also fixes this problem. The following styled search doesn't have <code>appearance: none;</code> applied, but it doesn't suffer from the same problem in Safari as the previous example.</p> <iframe width="100%" height="200" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-search.html" loading="lazy"></iframe> <div class="notecard note"> <p><strong>Note:</strong> You may have noticed that in the search field, the "x" delete icon, which appears when the value of the search is not null, disappears when the input loses focus in Edge and Chrome, but stays put in Safari. To remove via CSS, you can use <code>input[type="search"]:not(:focus, :active)::-webkit-search-cancel-button { display: none; }</code>.</p> </div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="styling_checkboxes_and_radio_buttons"><h3 id="styling_checkboxes_and_radio_buttons"><a href="#styling_checkboxes_and_radio_buttons">Styling checkboxes and radio buttons</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Styling a checkbox or a radio button is tricky by default. The sizes of checkboxes and radio buttons are not meant to be changed with their default designs, and browsers react very differently when you try.</p> <p>For example, consider this simple test case:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><label ><span><input type="checkbox" name="q5" value="true" /></span> True</label > <label ><span><input type="checkbox" name="q5" value="false" /></span> False</label > </code></pre></div> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>span { display: inline-block; background: red; } input[type="checkbox"] { width: 100px; height: 100px; } </code></pre></div> <p>Different browsers handle the checkbox and span differently, often ugly ways:</p> <figure class="table-container"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>Browser</th> <th>Rendering</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Firefox 71 (macOS)</td> <td><img src="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/firefox-mac-checkbox.png" alt="Rounded corners and 1px light grey border" width="120" height="118" loading="lazy"></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Firefox 57 (Windows 10)</td> <td><img src="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/firefox-windows-checkbox.png" alt="Rectangular corners with 1px medium grey border" width="113" height="115" loading="lazy"></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Chrome 77 (macOS), Safari 13, Opera</td> <td><img src="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/chrome-mac-checkbox.png" alt="Rounded corner with 1px medium grey border" width="116" height="117" loading="lazy"></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Chrome 63 (Windows 10)</td> <td><img src="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/chrome-windows-checkbox.png" alt="Rectangular borders with slightly greyish background instead of white." width="120" height="117" loading="lazy"></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Edge 16 (Windows 10)</td> <td><img src="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/edge-checkbox.png" alt="Rectangular borders with slightly greyish background instead of white." width="119" height="118" loading="lazy"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table></figure> <h4 id="using_appearance_none_on_radioscheckboxes">Using appearance: none on radios/checkboxes</h4> <p>As we showed before, you can remove the default appearance of a checkbox or radio button altogether with <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance"><code>appearance: none;</code></a>. Let's take this example HTML:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><form> <fieldset> <legend>Fruit preferences</legend> <p> <label> <input type="checkbox" name="fruit" value="cherry" /> I like cherry </label> </p> <p> <label> <input type="checkbox" name="fruit" value="banana" disabled /> I can't like banana </label> </p> <p> <label> <input type="checkbox" name="fruit" value="strawberry" /> I like strawberry </label> </p> </fieldset> </form> </code></pre></div> <p>Now, let's style these with a custom checkbox design. Let's start by unstyling the original check boxes:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="checkbox"] { appearance: none; } </code></pre></div> <p>We can use the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:checked"><code>:checked</code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:disabled"><code>:disabled</code></a> pseudo-classes to change the appearance of our custom checkbox as its state changes:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="checkbox"] { position: relative; width: 1em; height: 1em; border: 1px solid gray; /* Adjusts the position of the checkboxes on the text baseline */ vertical-align: -2px; /* Set here so that Windows' High-Contrast Mode can override */ color: green; } input[type="checkbox"]::before { content: "✔"; position: absolute; font-size: 1.2em; right: -1px; top: -0.3em; visibility: hidden; } input[type="checkbox"]:checked::before { /* Use `visibility` instead of `display` to avoid recalculating layout */ visibility: visible; } input[type="checkbox"]:disabled { border-color: black; background: #ddd; color: gray; } </code></pre></div> <p>You'll find out more about such pseudo-classes and more in the <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes">next article</a>; the above ones do the following:</p> <ul> <li><code>:checked</code> — the checkbox (or radio button) is in a checked state — the user has clicked/activated it.</li> <li><code>:disabled</code> — the checkbox (or radio button) is in a disabled state — it cannot be interacted with.</li> </ul> <p>You can see the live result:</p> <iframe width="100%" height="200" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/checkboxes-styled.html" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p>We've also created a couple of other examples to give you more ideas:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/radios-styled.html" class="external" target="_blank">Styled radio buttons</a>: Custom radio button styling.</li> <li><a href="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/toggle-switch-example/" class="external" target="_blank">Toggle switch example</a>: A checkbox styled to look like a toggle switch.</li> </ul> <p>If you view these checkboxes in a browser that doesn't support <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance"><code>appearance</code></a>, your custom design will be lost, but they will still look like checkboxes and be usable.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements"><h2 id="what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements"><a href="#what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements">What can be done about the "ugly" elements?</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>Now let's turn our attention to the "ugly" controls — the ones that are really hard to thoroughly style. In short, these are drop-down boxes, complex control types like <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/color"><code>color</code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local"><code>datetime-local</code></a>, and feedback—oriented controls like <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress"><code><progress></code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter"><code><meter></code></a>.</p> <p>The problem is that these elements have very different default looks across browsers, and while you can style them in some ways, some parts of their internals are literally impossible to style.</p> <p>If you are prepared to live with some differences in look and feel, you can get away with some simple styling to make sizing consistent, uniform styling of things like background-colors, and usage of appearance to get rid of some system-level styling.</p> <p>Take the following example, which shows a number of the "ugly" form features in action:</p> <iframe width="100%" height="750" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html" loading="lazy"></iframe> <p>This example has the following CSS applied to it:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>body { font-family: "Josefin Sans", sans-serif; margin: 20px auto; max-width: 400px; } form > div { margin-bottom: 20px; } select { appearance: none; width: 100%; height: 100%; } .select-wrapper { position: relative; } .select-wrapper::after { content: "▼"; font-size: 1rem; top: 3px; right: 10px; position: absolute; } button, label, input, select, progress, meter { display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 100%; margin: 0; box-sizing: border-box; width: 100%; padding: 5px; height: 30px; } input[type="text"], input[type="datetime-local"], input[type="color"], select { box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc; border-radius: 5px; } label { margin-bottom: 5px; } button { width: 60%; margin: 0 auto; } </code></pre></div> <div class="notecard note"> <p><strong>Note:</strong> If you want to test these examples across a number of browsers simultaneously, you can <a href="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html" class="external" target="_blank">find it live here</a> (also <a href="https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html" class="external" target="_blank">see here for the source code</a>).</p> <p>Also bear in mind that we've added some JavaScript to the page that lists the files selected by the file picker, below the control itself. This is a simplified version of the example found on the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/file#examples"><code><input type="file"></code></a> reference page.</p> </div> <p>As you can see, we've done fairly well at getting these to look uniform across modern browsers.</p> <p>We've applied some global normalizing CSS to all the controls and their labels, to get them to size in the same way, adopt their parent font, etc., as mentioned in the previous article:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>button, label, input, select, progress, meter { display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 100%; margin: 0; box-sizing: border-box; width: 100%; padding: 5px; height: 30px; } </code></pre></div> <p>We also added some uniform shadow and rounded corners to the controls on which it made sense:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="text"], input[type="datetime-local"], input[type="color"], select { box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc; border-radius: 5px; } </code></pre></div> <p>On other controls like range types, progress bars, and meters they just add an ugly box around the control area, so it doesn't make sense.</p> <p>Let's talk about some specifics of each of these types of control, highlighting difficulties along the way.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="selects_and_datalists"><h3 id="selects_and_datalists"><a href="#selects_and_datalists">Selects and datalists</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>In modern browsers, selects and datalists are generally not too bad to style provided you don't want to vary the look and feel too much from the defaults.</p> <p>We've managed to get the basic look of the boxes looking pretty uniform and consistent. The datalist control is <code><input type="text"></code> anyway, so we knew this wouldn't be a problem.</p> <p>Two things are slightly more problematic. First of all, the select's "arrow" icon that indicates it is a dropdown differs across browsers. It also tends to change if you increase the size of the select box, or resize in an ugly fashion. To fix this in our example we first used our old friend <code>appearance: none</code> to get rid of the icon altogether:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>select { appearance: none; } </code></pre></div> <p>We then created our own icon using generated content. We put an extra wrapper around the control, because <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/::before"><code>::before</code></a>/<a href="/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/::after"><code>::after</code></a> don't work on <code><select></code> elements (because their content is fully controlled by the browser):</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><label for="select">Select a fruit</label> <div class="select-wrapper"> <select id="select" name="select"> <option>Banana</option> <option>Cherry</option> <option>Lemon</option> </select> </div> </code></pre></div> <p>We then use generated content to generate a little down arrow, and put it in the right place using positioning:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>.select-wrapper { position: relative; } .select-wrapper::after { content: "▼"; font-size: 1rem; top: 6px; right: 10px; position: absolute; } </code></pre></div> <p>The second, slightly more important issue is that you don't have control over the box that appears containing the options when you click on the <code><select></code> box to open it. You can inherit the font set on the parent, but you won't be able to set things like spacing and colors. The same is true for the autocomplete list that appears with <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist"><code><datalist></code></a>.</p> <p>If you really need full control over the option styling, you'll have to either use some kind of library to generate a custom control, or build your own custom control, or in the case of select use the <code>multiple</code> attribute, which makes all the options appear on the page, sidestepping this particular problem:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">html</span></div><pre class="brush: html notranslate"><code><label for="select">Select fruits</label> <select id="select" name="select" multiple> … </select> </code></pre></div> <p>Of course, this might also not fit in with the design you are going for, but it's worth noting!</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="date_input_types"><h3 id="date_input_types"><a href="#date_input_types">Date input types</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>The date/time input types (<a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local"><code>datetime-local</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/time"><code>time</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/week"><code>week</code></a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/month"><code>month</code></a>) all have the same major associated issue. The actual containing box is as easy to style as any text input, and what we've got in this demo looks fine.</p> <p>However, the internal parts of the control (e.g. the popup calendar that you use to pick a date, the spinner that you can use to increment/decrement values) are not stylable at all, and you can't get rid of them using <code>appearance: none;</code>. If you really need full control over the styling, you'll have to either use some kind of library to generate a custom control, or build your own.</p> <div class="notecard note"> <p><strong>Note:</strong> It is worth mentioning <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/number"><code><input type="number"></code></a> here too — this also has a spinner that you can use to increment/decrement values, so potentially suffers from the same problem. However, in the case of the <code>number</code> type the data being collected is simpler, and it is easy to just use a <code>tel</code> input type instead which has the appearance of <code>text</code>, but displays the numeric keypad in devices with touch keyboards.</p> </div></div></section><section aria-labelledby="range_input_types"><h3 id="range_input_types"><a href="#range_input_types">Range input types</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/range"><code><input type="range"></code></a> is annoying to style. You can use something like the following to remove the default slider track completely and replace it with a custom style (a thin red track, in this case):</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="range"] { appearance: none; background: red; height: 2px; padding: 0; outline: 1px solid transparent; } </code></pre></div> <p>However, it is very difficult to customize the style of the range control's drag handle — to get full control over range styling you'll need to use a whole bunch of complex CSS code, including multiple non-standard, browser-specific pseudo-elements. Check out <a href="https://css-tricks.com/styling-cross-browser-compatible-range-inputs-css/" class="external" target="_blank">Styling Cross-Browser Compatible Range Inputs with CSS</a> on CSS tricks for a detailed write-up of what's needed.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="color_input_types"><h3 id="color_input_types"><a href="#color_input_types">Color input types</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Input controls of type color are not too bad. In supporting browsers, they tend to just give you a block of solid color with a small border.</p> <p>You can remove the border, just leaving the block of color, using something like this:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="color"] { border: 0; padding: 0; } </code></pre></div> <p>However, a custom solution is the only way to get anything significantly different.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="file_input_types"><h3 id="file_input_types"><a href="#file_input_types">File input types</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p>Inputs of type file are generally OK — as you saw in our example, it is fairly easy to create something that fits in OK with the rest of the page — the output line that is part of the control will inherit the parent font if you tell the input to do so, and you can style the custom list of file names and sizes in any way you want; we created it after all.</p> <p>The only problem with file pickers is that the button provided that you press to open the file picker is completely unstylable — it can't be sized or colored, and it won't even accept a different font.</p> <p>One way around this is to take advantage of the fact that if you have a label associated with a form control, clicking the label will activate the control. So you could hide the actual form input using something like this:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>input[type="file"] { height: 0; padding: 0; opacity: 0; } </code></pre></div> <p>And then style the label to act like a button, which when pressed will open the file picker as expected:</p> <div class="code-example"><div class="example-header"><span class="language-name">css</span></div><pre class="brush: css notranslate"><code>label[for="file"] { box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #ccc; background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #eee, #ccc); border: 1px solid rgb(169 169 169); border-radius: 5px; text-align: center; line-height: 1.5; } label[for="file"]:hover { background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #fff, #ddd); } label[for="file"]:active { box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc; } </code></pre></div> <p>You can see the result of the above CSS styling in the below live example (see also <a href="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html" class="external" target="_blank">styled-file-picker.html</a> live, and the <a href="https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html" class="external" target="_blank">source code</a>).</p> <iframe width="100%" height="200" src="https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html" loading="lazy"></iframe></div></section><section aria-labelledby="meters_and_progress_bars"><h3 id="meters_and_progress_bars"><a href="#meters_and_progress_bars">Meters and progress bars</a></h3><div class="section-content"><p><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter"><code><meter></code></a> and <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress"><code><progress></code></a> are possibly the worst of the lot. As you saw in the earlier example, we can set them to the desired width relatively accurately. But beyond that, they are really difficult to style in any way. They don't handle height settings consistently between each other and between browsers, you can color the background, but not the foreground bar, and setting <code>appearance: none</code> on them makes things worse, not better.</p> <p>It is easier to just create your own custom solution for these features, if you want to be able to control the styling, or use a third-party solution such as <a href="https://kimmobrunfeldt.github.io/progressbar.js/#examples" class="external" target="_blank">progressbar.js</a>.</p> <p>The article <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls">How to build custom form controls</a> provides an example of how to build a custom designed select with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.</p></div></section><section aria-labelledby="summary"><h2 id="summary"><a href="#summary">Summary</a></h2><div class="section-content"><p>While there are still difficulties using CSS with HTML forms, there are ways to get around many of the problems. There are no clean, universal solutions, but modern browsers offer new possibilities. For now, the best solution is to learn more about the way the different browsers support CSS when applied to HTML form controls.</p> <p>In the next article of this module, we will explore the different <a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes">UI pseudo-classes</a> available to us in modern browsers for styling forms in different states.</p> <ul class="prev-next"><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms"><span class="button-wrap"> Previous </span></a></li><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms"><span class="button-wrap"> Overview: Web forms</span></a></li><li><a class="button secondary" href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes"><span class="button-wrap"> Next </span></a></li></ul></div></section><section aria-labelledby="advanced_topics"><h3 id="advanced_topics"><a href="#advanced_topics">Advanced Topics</a></h3><div class="section-content"><ul> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls">How to build custom form controls</a></li> <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Sending_forms_through_JavaScript">Sending forms through JavaScript</a></li> </ul></div></section></article><aside class="article-footer"><div class="article-footer-inner"><div class="svg-container"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="162" height="162" viewBox="0 0 162 162" fill="none" role="none"><mask id="b" fill="#fff"><path d="M97.203 47.04c8.113-7.886 18.004-13.871 28.906-17.492a78 78 0 0 1 33.969-3.39c11.443 1.39 22.401 5.295 32.024 11.411s17.656 14.28 23.476 23.86c5.819 9.579 9.269 20.318 10.083 31.385a69.85 69.85 0 0 1-5.387 32.44c-4.358 10.272-11.115 19.443-19.747 26.801-8.632 7.359-18.908 12.709-30.034 15.637l-6.17-21.698c7.666-2.017 14.746-5.703 20.694-10.773 5.948-5.071 10.603-11.389 13.606-18.467a48.14 48.14 0 0 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contributors. Content available under <a href="/en-US/docs/MDN/Writing_guidelines/Attrib_copyright_license">a Creative Commons license</a>.</p></div></div></footer></div><script type="application/json" id="hydration">{"url":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling","doc":{"body":[{"type":"prose","value":{"id":null,"title":null,"isH3":false,"content":"<ul class=\"prev-next\"><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Previous </span></a></li><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Overview: Web forms</span></a></li><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Next </span></a></li></ul>\n<p>In this article, we will see what can be done with CSS to style the types of form control that are more difficult to style — the \"bad\" and \"ugly\" categories. As we saw <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms\">in the previous article</a>, text fields and buttons are perfectly easy to style; now we will dig into styling the more problematic bits.</p>\n<figure class=\"table-container\"><table>\n <tbody>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\">Prerequisites:</th>\n <td>\n A basic understanding of\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content\">HTML</a> and\n <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics\">CSS</a>.\n </td>\n </tr>\n <tr>\n <th scope=\"row\">Objective:</th>\n <td>\n To understand what parts of forms are hard to style, and why; to learn\n what can be done to customize them.\n </td>\n </tr>\n </tbody>\n</table></figure>\n<p>To recap what we said in the previous article, we have:</p>\n<p><strong>The bad</strong>: Some elements are more difficult to style, requiring more complex CSS or some more specific tricks:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Checkboxes and radio buttons</li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/search\"><code><input type=\"search\"></code></a></li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>The ugly</strong>: Some elements can't be styled thoroughly using CSS. These include:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Elements involved in creating dropdown widgets, including <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/select\"><code><select></code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/option\"><code><option></code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/optgroup\"><code><optgroup></code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist\"><code><datalist></code></a>.</li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/color\"><code><input type=\"color\"></code></a></li>\n<li>Date-related controls such as <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local\"><code><input type=\"datetime-local\"></code></a></li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/range\"><code><input type=\"range\"></code></a></li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/file\"><code><input type=\"file\"></code></a></li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress\"><code><progress></code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter\"><code><meter></code></a></li>\n</ul>\n<p>Let's first talk about the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance\"><code>appearance</code></a> property, which is pretty useful for making all of the above more stylable.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"appearance_controlling_os-level_styling","title":"appearance: controlling OS-level styling","isH3":false,"content":"<p>In the previous article we said that historically, the styling of web form controls was largely taken from the underlying operating system, which is part of the problem with customizing the look of these controls.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance\"><code>appearance</code></a> property was created as a way to control what OS- or system-level styling was applied to web form controls. By far the most helpful value, and probably the only one you'll use, is <code>none</code>. This stops any control you apply it to from using system-level styling, as much as possible, and lets you build up the styles yourself using CSS.</p>\n<p>For example, let's take the following controls:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><form>\n <p>\n <label for=\"search\">search: </label>\n <input id=\"search\" name=\"search\" type=\"search\" />\n </p>\n <p>\n <label for=\"text\">text: </label>\n <input id=\"text\" name=\"text\" type=\"text\" />\n </p>\n <p>\n <label for=\"date\">date: </label>\n <input id=\"date\" name=\"date\" type=\"datetime-local\" />\n </p>\n <p>\n <label for=\"radio\">radio: </label>\n <input id=\"radio\" name=\"radio\" type=\"radio\" />\n </p>\n <p>\n <label for=\"checkbox\">checkbox: </label>\n <input id=\"checkbox\" name=\"checkbox\" type=\"checkbox\" />\n </p>\n <p><input type=\"submit\" value=\"submit\" /></p>\n <p><input type=\"button\" value=\"button\" /></p>\n</form>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Applying the following CSS to them removes system-level styling.</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input {\n appearance: none;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>The following live example shows you what they look like in your system — default on the left, and with the above CSS applied on the right (<a href=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/appearance-tester.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">find it here also</a> if you want to test it on other systems).</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"400\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/appearance-tester.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>\n<p>In most cases, the effect is to remove the stylized border, which makes CSS styling a bit easier, but isn't really essential. In a couple of cases — search and radio buttons/checkboxes, it becomes way more useful. We'll look at those now.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"taming_search_boxes","title":"Taming search boxes","isH3":true,"content":"<p><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/search\"><code><input type=\"search\"></code></a> is basically just a text input, so why is <code>appearance: none;</code> useful here? The answer is that Safari search boxes have some styling restrictions — you can't adjust their <code>height</code> or <code>font-size</code> freely, for example.</p>\n<p>This can be fixed using our friend <code>appearance: none;</code>, which disables the default appearance:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"search\"] {\n appearance: none;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>In the example below, you can see two identical styled search boxes. The right one has <code>appearance: none;</code> applied, and the left one doesn't. If you look at it in Safari on macOS you'll see that the left one isn't sized properly.</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/search-appearance.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>\n<p>Interestingly, setting border/background on the search field also fixes this problem. The following styled search doesn't have <code>appearance: none;</code> applied, but it doesn't suffer from the same problem in Safari as the previous example.</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-search.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>\n<div class=\"notecard note\">\n<p><strong>Note:</strong>\nYou may have noticed that in the search field, the \"x\" delete icon, which appears when the value of the search is not null, disappears when the input loses focus in Edge and Chrome, but stays put in Safari. To remove via CSS, you can use <code>input[type=\"search\"]:not(:focus, :active)::-webkit-search-cancel-button { display: none; }</code>.</p>\n</div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"styling_checkboxes_and_radio_buttons","title":"Styling checkboxes and radio buttons","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Styling a checkbox or a radio button is tricky by default. The sizes of checkboxes and radio buttons are not meant to be changed with their default designs, and browsers react very differently when you try.</p>\n<p>For example, consider this simple test case:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><label\n ><span><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"q5\" value=\"true\" /></span> True</label\n>\n<label\n ><span><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"q5\" value=\"false\" /></span> False</label\n>\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>span {\n display: inline-block;\n background: red;\n}\n\ninput[type=\"checkbox\"] {\n width: 100px;\n height: 100px;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Different browsers handle the checkbox and span differently, often ugly ways:</p>\n<figure class=\"table-container\"><table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Browser</th>\n<th>Rendering</th>\n</tr>\n</thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Firefox 71 (macOS)</td>\n<td><img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/firefox-mac-checkbox.png\" alt=\"Rounded corners and 1px light grey border\" width=\"120\" height=\"118\" loading=\"lazy\"></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Firefox 57 (Windows 10)</td>\n<td><img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/firefox-windows-checkbox.png\" alt=\"Rectangular corners with 1px medium grey border\" width=\"113\" height=\"115\" loading=\"lazy\"></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Chrome 77 (macOS), Safari 13, Opera</td>\n<td><img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/chrome-mac-checkbox.png\" alt=\"Rounded corner with 1px medium grey border\" width=\"116\" height=\"117\" loading=\"lazy\"></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Chrome 63 (Windows 10)</td>\n<td><img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/chrome-windows-checkbox.png\" alt=\"Rectangular borders with slightly greyish background instead of white.\" width=\"120\" height=\"117\" loading=\"lazy\"></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Edge 16 (Windows 10)</td>\n<td><img src=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling/edge-checkbox.png\" alt=\"Rectangular borders with slightly greyish background instead of white.\" width=\"119\" height=\"118\" loading=\"lazy\"></td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table></figure>\n<h4 id=\"using_appearance_none_on_radioscheckboxes\">Using appearance: none on radios/checkboxes</h4>\n<p>As we showed before, you can remove the default appearance of a checkbox or radio button altogether with <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance\"><code>appearance: none;</code></a>. Let's take this example HTML:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><form>\n <fieldset>\n <legend>Fruit preferences</legend>\n\n <p>\n <label>\n <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"fruit\" value=\"cherry\" />\n I like cherry\n </label>\n </p>\n <p>\n <label>\n <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"fruit\" value=\"banana\" disabled />\n I can't like banana\n </label>\n </p>\n <p>\n <label>\n <input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"fruit\" value=\"strawberry\" />\n I like strawberry\n </label>\n </p>\n </fieldset>\n</form>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Now, let's style these with a custom checkbox design. Let's start by unstyling the original check boxes:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"checkbox\"] {\n appearance: none;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>We can use the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:checked\"><code>:checked</code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:disabled\"><code>:disabled</code></a> pseudo-classes to change the appearance of our custom checkbox as its state changes:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"checkbox\"] {\n position: relative;\n width: 1em;\n height: 1em;\n border: 1px solid gray;\n /* Adjusts the position of the checkboxes on the text baseline */\n vertical-align: -2px;\n /* Set here so that Windows' High-Contrast Mode can override */\n color: green;\n}\n\ninput[type=\"checkbox\"]::before {\n content: \"✔\";\n position: absolute;\n font-size: 1.2em;\n right: -1px;\n top: -0.3em;\n visibility: hidden;\n}\n\ninput[type=\"checkbox\"]:checked::before {\n /* Use `visibility` instead of `display` to avoid recalculating layout */\n visibility: visible;\n}\n\ninput[type=\"checkbox\"]:disabled {\n border-color: black;\n background: #ddd;\n color: gray;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>You'll find out more about such pseudo-classes and more in the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\">next article</a>; the above ones do the following:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><code>:checked</code> — the checkbox (or radio button) is in a checked state — the user has clicked/activated it.</li>\n<li><code>:disabled</code> — the checkbox (or radio button) is in a disabled state — it cannot be interacted with.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>You can see the live result:</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/checkboxes-styled.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>\n<p>We've also created a couple of other examples to give you more ideas:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/radios-styled.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Styled radio buttons</a>: Custom radio button styling.</li>\n<li><a href=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/toggle-switch-example/\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Toggle switch example</a>: A checkbox styled to look like a toggle switch.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>If you view these checkboxes in a browser that doesn't support <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/appearance\"><code>appearance</code></a>, your custom design will be lost, but they will still look like checkboxes and be usable.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements","title":"What can be done about the \"ugly\" elements?","isH3":false,"content":"<p>Now let's turn our attention to the \"ugly\" controls — the ones that are really hard to thoroughly style. In short, these are drop-down boxes, complex control types like <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/color\"><code>color</code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local\"><code>datetime-local</code></a>, and feedback—oriented controls like <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress\"><code><progress></code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter\"><code><meter></code></a>.</p>\n<p>The problem is that these elements have very different default looks across browsers, and while you can style them in some ways, some parts of their internals are literally impossible to style.</p>\n<p>If you are prepared to live with some differences in look and feel, you can get away with some simple styling to make sizing consistent, uniform styling of things like background-colors, and usage of appearance to get rid of some system-level styling.</p>\n<p>Take the following example, which shows a number of the \"ugly\" form features in action:</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"750\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>\n<p>This example has the following CSS applied to it:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>body {\n font-family: \"Josefin Sans\", sans-serif;\n margin: 20px auto;\n max-width: 400px;\n}\n\nform > div {\n margin-bottom: 20px;\n}\n\nselect {\n appearance: none;\n width: 100%;\n height: 100%;\n}\n\n.select-wrapper {\n position: relative;\n}\n\n.select-wrapper::after {\n content: \"▼\";\n font-size: 1rem;\n top: 3px;\n right: 10px;\n position: absolute;\n}\n\nbutton,\nlabel,\ninput,\nselect,\nprogress,\nmeter {\n display: block;\n font-family: inherit;\n font-size: 100%;\n margin: 0;\n box-sizing: border-box;\n width: 100%;\n padding: 5px;\n height: 30px;\n}\n\ninput[type=\"text\"],\ninput[type=\"datetime-local\"],\ninput[type=\"color\"],\nselect {\n box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc;\n border-radius: 5px;\n}\n\nlabel {\n margin-bottom: 5px;\n}\n\nbutton {\n width: 60%;\n margin: 0 auto;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<div class=\"notecard note\">\n<p><strong>Note:</strong>\nIf you want to test these examples across a number of browsers simultaneously, you can <a href=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">find it live here</a> (also <a href=\"https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/forms/styling-examples/ugly-controls.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">see here for the source code</a>).</p>\n<p>Also bear in mind that we've added some JavaScript to the page that lists the files selected by the file picker, below the control itself. This is a simplified version of the example found on the <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/file#examples\"><code><input type=\"file\"></code></a> reference page.</p>\n</div>\n<p>As you can see, we've done fairly well at getting these to look uniform across modern browsers.</p>\n<p>We've applied some global normalizing CSS to all the controls and their labels, to get them to size in the same way, adopt their parent font, etc., as mentioned in the previous article:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>button,\nlabel,\ninput,\nselect,\nprogress,\nmeter {\n display: block;\n font-family: inherit;\n font-size: 100%;\n margin: 0;\n box-sizing: border-box;\n width: 100%;\n padding: 5px;\n height: 30px;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>We also added some uniform shadow and rounded corners to the controls on which it made sense:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"text\"],\ninput[type=\"datetime-local\"],\ninput[type=\"color\"],\nselect {\n box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc;\n border-radius: 5px;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>On other controls like range types, progress bars, and meters they just add an ugly box around the control area, so it doesn't make sense.</p>\n<p>Let's talk about some specifics of each of these types of control, highlighting difficulties along the way.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"selects_and_datalists","title":"Selects and datalists","isH3":true,"content":"<p>In modern browsers, selects and datalists are generally not too bad to style provided you don't want to vary the look and feel too much from the defaults.</p>\n<p>We've managed to get the basic look of the boxes looking pretty uniform and consistent. The datalist control is <code><input type=\"text\"></code> anyway, so we knew this wouldn't be a problem.</p>\n<p>Two things are slightly more problematic. First of all, the select's \"arrow\" icon that indicates it is a dropdown differs across browsers. It also tends to change if you increase the size of the select box, or resize in an ugly fashion. To fix this in our example we first used our old friend <code>appearance: none</code> to get rid of the icon altogether:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>select {\n appearance: none;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>We then created our own icon using generated content. We put an extra wrapper around the control, because <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/::before\"><code>::before</code></a>/<a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/::after\"><code>::after</code></a> don't work on <code><select></code> elements (because their content is fully controlled by the browser):</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><label for=\"select\">Select a fruit</label>\n<div class=\"select-wrapper\">\n <select id=\"select\" name=\"select\">\n <option>Banana</option>\n <option>Cherry</option>\n <option>Lemon</option>\n </select>\n</div>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>We then use generated content to generate a little down arrow, and put it in the right place using positioning:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>.select-wrapper {\n position: relative;\n}\n\n.select-wrapper::after {\n content: \"▼\";\n font-size: 1rem;\n top: 6px;\n right: 10px;\n position: absolute;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>The second, slightly more important issue is that you don't have control over the box that appears containing the options when you click on the <code><select></code> box to open it. You can inherit the font set on the parent, but you won't be able to set things like spacing and colors. The same is true for the autocomplete list that appears with <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/datalist\"><code><datalist></code></a>.</p>\n<p>If you really need full control over the option styling, you'll have to either use some kind of library to generate a custom control, or build your own custom control, or in the case of select use the <code>multiple</code> attribute, which makes all the options appear on the page, sidestepping this particular problem:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">html</span></div><pre class=\"brush: html notranslate\"><code><label for=\"select\">Select fruits</label>\n<select id=\"select\" name=\"select\" multiple>\n …\n</select>\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>Of course, this might also not fit in with the design you are going for, but it's worth noting!</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"date_input_types","title":"Date input types","isH3":true,"content":"<p>The date/time input types (<a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/datetime-local\"><code>datetime-local</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/time\"><code>time</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/week\"><code>week</code></a>, <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/month\"><code>month</code></a>) all have the same major associated issue. The actual containing box is as easy to style as any text input, and what we've got in this demo looks fine.</p>\n<p>However, the internal parts of the control (e.g. the popup calendar that you use to pick a date, the spinner that you can use to increment/decrement values) are not stylable at all, and you can't get rid of them using <code>appearance: none;</code>. If you really need full control over the styling, you'll have to either use some kind of library to generate a custom control, or build your own.</p>\n<div class=\"notecard note\">\n<p><strong>Note:</strong>\nIt is worth mentioning <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/number\"><code><input type=\"number\"></code></a> here too — this also has a spinner that you can use to increment/decrement values, so potentially suffers from the same problem. However, in the case of the <code>number</code> type the data being collected is simpler, and it is easy to just use a <code>tel</code> input type instead which has the appearance of <code>text</code>, but displays the numeric keypad in devices with touch keyboards.</p>\n</div>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"range_input_types","title":"Range input types","isH3":true,"content":"<p><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/input/range\"><code><input type=\"range\"></code></a> is annoying to style. You can use something like the following to remove the default slider track completely and replace it with a custom style (a thin red track, in this case):</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"range\"] {\n appearance: none;\n background: red;\n height: 2px;\n padding: 0;\n outline: 1px solid transparent;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>However, it is very difficult to customize the style of the range control's drag handle — to get full control over range styling you'll need to use a whole bunch of complex CSS code, including multiple non-standard, browser-specific pseudo-elements. Check out <a href=\"https://css-tricks.com/styling-cross-browser-compatible-range-inputs-css/\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">Styling Cross-Browser Compatible Range Inputs with CSS</a> on CSS tricks for a detailed write-up of what's needed.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"color_input_types","title":"Color input types","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Input controls of type color are not too bad. In supporting browsers, they tend to just give you a block of solid color with a small border.</p>\n<p>You can remove the border, just leaving the block of color, using something like this:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"color\"] {\n border: 0;\n padding: 0;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>However, a custom solution is the only way to get anything significantly different.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"file_input_types","title":"File input types","isH3":true,"content":"<p>Inputs of type file are generally OK — as you saw in our example, it is fairly easy to create something that fits in OK with the rest of the page — the output line that is part of the control will inherit the parent font if you tell the input to do so, and you can style the custom list of file names and sizes in any way you want; we created it after all.</p>\n<p>The only problem with file pickers is that the button provided that you press to open the file picker is completely unstylable — it can't be sized or colored, and it won't even accept a different font.</p>\n<p>One way around this is to take advantage of the fact that if you have a label associated with a form control, clicking the label will activate the control. So you could hide the actual form input using something like this:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>input[type=\"file\"] {\n height: 0;\n padding: 0;\n opacity: 0;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>And then style the label to act like a button, which when pressed will open the file picker as expected:</p>\n<div class=\"code-example\"><div class=\"example-header\"><span class=\"language-name\">css</span></div><pre class=\"brush: css notranslate\"><code>label[for=\"file\"] {\n box-shadow: 1px 1px 3px #ccc;\n background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #eee, #ccc);\n border: 1px solid rgb(169 169 169);\n border-radius: 5px;\n text-align: center;\n line-height: 1.5;\n}\n\nlabel[for=\"file\"]:hover {\n background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #fff, #ddd);\n}\n\nlabel[for=\"file\"]:active {\n box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc;\n}\n</code></pre></div>\n<p>You can see the result of the above CSS styling in the below live example (see also <a href=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">styled-file-picker.html</a> live, and the <a href=\"https://github.com/mdn/learning-area/blob/main/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">source code</a>).</p>\n<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" src=\"https://mdn.github.io/learning-area/html/forms/styling-examples/styled-file-picker.html\" loading=\"lazy\"></iframe>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"meters_and_progress_bars","title":"Meters and progress bars","isH3":true,"content":"<p><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/meter\"><code><meter></code></a> and <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/progress\"><code><progress></code></a> are possibly the worst of the lot. As you saw in the earlier example, we can set them to the desired width relatively accurately. But beyond that, they are really difficult to style in any way. They don't handle height settings consistently between each other and between browsers, you can color the background, but not the foreground bar, and setting <code>appearance: none</code> on them makes things worse, not better.</p>\n<p>It is easier to just create your own custom solution for these features, if you want to be able to control the styling, or use a third-party solution such as <a href=\"https://kimmobrunfeldt.github.io/progressbar.js/#examples\" class=\"external\" target=\"_blank\">progressbar.js</a>.</p>\n<p>The article <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls\">How to build custom form controls</a> provides an example of how to build a custom designed select with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.</p>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"summary","title":"Summary","isH3":false,"content":"<p>While there are still difficulties using CSS with HTML forms, there are ways to get around many of the problems. There are no clean, universal solutions, but modern browsers offer new possibilities. For now, the best solution is to learn more about the way the different browsers support CSS when applied to HTML form controls.</p>\n<p>In the next article of this module, we will explore the different <a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\">UI pseudo-classes</a> available to us in modern browsers for styling forms in different states.</p>\n<ul class=\"prev-next\"><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Previous </span></a></li><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Overview: Web forms</span></a></li><li><a class=\"button secondary\" href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\"><span class=\"button-wrap\"> Next </span></a></li></ul>"}},{"type":"prose","value":{"id":"advanced_topics","title":"Advanced Topics","isH3":true,"content":"<ul>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/How_to_build_custom_form_controls\">How to build custom form controls</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Sending_forms_through_JavaScript\">Sending forms through JavaScript</a></li>\n</ul>"}}],"isActive":true,"isMarkdown":true,"isTranslated":false,"locale":"en-US","mdn_url":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling","modified":"2024-12-19T15:37:45.000Z","native":"English (US)","noIndexing":false,"other_translations":[{"locale":"de","title":"Fortgeschrittenes Formular-Styling","native":"Deutsch"},{"locale":"fr","title":"Mise en forme avancée des formulaires HTML","native":"Français"},{"locale":"ja","title":"フォームへの高度なスタイル設定","native":"日本語"},{"locale":"zh-CN","title":"表单样式化进阶","native":"中文 (简体)"}],"pageTitle":"Advanced form styling - Learn web development | MDN","parents":[{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development","title":"Learn"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions","title":"Extension modules"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms","title":"Web forms"},{"uri":"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling","title":"Advanced form styling"}],"popularity":null,"short_title":"Advanced form styling","sidebarHTML":"<ol><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started\">Getting started modules</a></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup\">Environment setup</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Installing_software\">Installing basic software</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Browsing_the_web\">Browsing the web</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Code_editors\">Code editors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Dealing_with_files\">Dealing with files</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Environment_setup/Command_line\">Command line crash course</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website\">Your first website</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website/What_will_your_website_look_like\">What will your website look like?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website/Creating_the_content\">HTML: Creating the content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website/Styling_the_content\">CSS: Styling the content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website/Adding_interactivity\">JavaScript: Adding interactivity</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Your_first_website/Publishing_your_website\">Publishing your website</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Web_standards\">Web standards</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Web_standards/How_the_web_works\">How the web works</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Web_standards/The_web_standards_model\">The web standards model</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Web_standards/How_browsers_load_websites\">How browsers load websites</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Soft_skills\">Soft skills</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Soft_skills/Research_and_learning\">Research and learning</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Soft_skills/Collaboration_and_teamwork\">Collaboration and teamwork</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Soft_skills/Workflows_and_processes\">Workflows and processes</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Getting_started/Soft_skills/Job_interviews\">Succeeding in job interviews</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core\">Core modules</a></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content\">Structuring content with HTML</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Basic_HTML_syntax\">Basic HTML syntax</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Webpage_metadata\">What's in the head? Webpage metadata</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Headings_and_paragraphs\">Headings and paragraphs in HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Emphasis_and_importance\">Emphasis and importance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Lists\">Lists</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Structuring_documents\">Structuring documents</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Advanced_text_features\">Advanced text features</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Creating_links\">Creating links</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Marking_up_a_letter\">Challenge: Marking up a letter</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Structuring_a_page_of_content\">Challenge: Structuring a page of content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_images\">HTML images</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_video_and_audio\">HTML video and audio</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Mozilla_splash_page\">Challenge: Mozilla splash page</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_table_basics\">HTML table basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Table_accessibility\">HTML table accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Planet_data_table\">Challenge: Structuring a planet data table</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/HTML_forms\">Forms and buttons in HTML</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Structuring_content/Debugging_HTML\">Debugging HTML</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics\">CSS styling basics</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/What_is_CSS\">What is CSS?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Getting_started\">Getting started with CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Styling_a_bio_page\">Challenge: Styling a biography page</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Basic_selectors\">Basic CSS selectors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Attribute_selectors\">Attribute selectors</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Pseudo_classes_and_elements\">Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Combinators\">Combinators</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Box_model\">The box model</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Handling_conflicts\">Handling conflicts</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Values_and_units\">CSS values and units</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Sizing\">Sizing items in CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Backgrounds_and_borders\">Backgrounds and borders</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Overflow\">Overflowing content</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Images_media_forms\">Images, media, and form elements</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Tables\">Styling tables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Debugging_CSS\">Debugging CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Fundamental_CSS_comprehension\">Challenge: Fundamental CSS comprehension</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Fancy_letterheaded_paper\">Challenge: Creating fancy letterheaded paper</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Styling_basics/Cool-looking_box\">Challenge: A cool-looking box</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling\">CSS text styling</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Fundamentals\">Fundamental text and font styling</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Styling_lists\">Styling lists</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Styling_links\">Styling links</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Web_fonts\">Web fonts</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Text_styling/Typesetting_a_homepage\">Challenge: Typesetting a community school homepage</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout\">CSS layout</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Introduction\">Introduction to CSS layout</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Floats\">Floats</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Positioning\">Positioning</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Flexbox\">Flexbox</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Grids\">CSS grid layout</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Responsive_Design\">Responsive design</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Media_queries\">Media query fundamentals</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/CSS_layout/Fundamental_Layout_Comprehension\">Challenge: Fundamental layout comprehension</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting\">Dynamic scripting with JavaScript</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/What_is_JavaScript\">What is JavaScript?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/A_first_splash\">A first splash into JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/What_went_wrong\">What went wrong? Troubleshooting JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Variables\">Storing the information you need — Variables</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Math\">Basic math in JavaScript — numbers and operators</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Strings\">Handling text — strings in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Useful_string_methods\">Useful string methods</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Arrays\">Arrays</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Silly_story_generator\">Challenge: Silly story generator</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Conditionals\">Making decisions in your code — conditionals</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Loops\">Looping code</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Functions\">Functions — reusable blocks of code</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Build_your_own_function\">Build your own function</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Return_values\">Function return values</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Events\">Introduction to events</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Event_bubbling\">Event bubbling</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Image_gallery\">Challenge: Image gallery</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Object_basics\">JavaScript object basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/DOM_scripting\">DOM scripting introduction</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Network_requests\">Making network requests with JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/JSON\">Working with JSON</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Scripting/Debugging_JavaScript\">Debugging JavaScript and handling errors</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries\">JavaScript frameworks and libraries</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/Introduction\">Introduction to client-side frameworks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/Main_features\">Framework main features</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_getting_started\">Getting started with React</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_todo_list_beginning\">Beginning our React todo list</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_components\">Componentizing our React app</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_interactivity_events_state\">React interactivity: Events and state</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_interactivity_filtering_conditional_rendering\">React interactivity: Editing, filtering, conditional rendering</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_accessibility\">Accessibility in React</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Frameworks_libraries/React_resources\">React resources</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility\">Accessibility</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/What_is_accessibility\">What is accessibility?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Tooling\">Accessibility tooling and assistive technology</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/HTML\">HTML: A good basis for accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/CSS_and_JavaScript\">CSS and JavaScript accessibility best practices</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/WAI-ARIA_basics\">WAI-ARIA basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Multimedia\">Accessible multimedia</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Mobile\">Mobile accessibility</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Accessibility/Accessibility_troubleshooting\">Challenge: Accessibility troubleshooting</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Design_for_developers\">Design for developers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core/Version_control\">Version control</a></li><li class=\"section\"><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions\">Extension modules</a></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects\">Advanced JavaScript objects</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object_prototypes\">Object prototypes</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object-oriented_programming\">Object-oriented programming</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Classes_in_JavaScript\">Classes in JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Object_building_practice\">Object building practice</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Advanced_JavaScript_objects/Adding_bouncing_balls_features\">Challenge: Adding features to our bouncing balls demo</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs\">Client-side web APIs</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Introduction\">Introduction to web APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Video_and_audio_APIs\">Video and Audio APIs</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Drawing_graphics\">Drawing graphics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Client-side_storage\">Client-side storage</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_APIs/Third_party_APIs\">Third-party APIs</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS\">Asynchronous JavaScript</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS/Introducing\">Introducing asynchronous JavaScript</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS/Promises\">How to use promises</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS/Implementing_a_promise-based_API\">How to implement a promise-based API</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS/Introducing_workers\">Introducing workers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Async_JS/Sequencing_animations\">Challenge: Sequencing animations</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details open=\"\"><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms\">Web forms</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Your_first_form\">Your first form</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/How_to_structure_a_web_form\">How to structure a web form</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Basic_native_form_controls\">Basic native form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/HTML5_input_types\">The HTML5 input types</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Other_form_controls\">Other form controls</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Styling_web_forms\">Styling web forms</a></li><li><em><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Advanced_form_styling\" aria-current=\"page\">Advanced form styling</a></em></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/UI_pseudo-classes\">UI pseudo-classes</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Form_validation\">Client-side form validation</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Forms/Sending_and_retrieving_form_data\">Sending form data</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_tools\">Understanding client-side tools</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_tools/Overview\">Client-side tooling overview</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_tools/Package_management\">Package management basics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_tools/Introducing_complete_toolchain\">Introducing a complete toolchain</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Client-side_tools/Deployment\">Deploying our app</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side\">Server-side websites</a></summary><ol><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/First_steps\">Server-side first steps</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/First_steps/Introduction\">Introduction to the server side</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/First_steps/Client-Server_overview\">Client-Server Overview</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/First_steps/Web_frameworks\">Server-side web frameworks</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/First_steps/Website_security\">Website security</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django\">Django web framework (Python)</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Introduction\">Django introduction</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/development_environment\">Setting up a Django development environment</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Tutorial_local_library_website\">Django Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/skeleton_website\">Django Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Models\">Django Tutorial Part 3: Using models</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Admin_site\">Django Tutorial Part 4: Django admin site</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Home_page\">Django Tutorial Part 5: Creating our home page</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Generic_views\">Django Tutorial Part 6: Generic list and detail views</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Sessions\">Django Tutorial Part 7: Sessions framework</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Authentication\">Django Tutorial Part 8: User authentication and permissions</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Forms\">Django Tutorial Part 9: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Testing\">Django Tutorial Part 10: Testing a Django web application</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/Deployment\">Django Tutorial Part 11: Deploying Django to production</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/web_application_security\">Django web application security</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Django/django_assessment_blog\">Assessment: DIY Django mini blog</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs\">Express web framework (Node.js)</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Introduction\">Express/Node introduction</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/development_environment\">Setting up a Node development environment</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Tutorial_local_library_website\">Express Tutorial: The Local Library website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/skeleton_website\">Express Tutorial Part 2: Creating a skeleton website</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/mongoose\">Express Tutorial Part 3: Using a Database (with Mongoose)</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/routes\">Express Tutorial Part 4: Routes and controllers</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/Displaying_data\">Express Tutorial Part 5: Displaying library data</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/forms\">Express Tutorial Part 6: Working with forms</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side/Express_Nodejs/deployment\">Express Tutorial Part 7: Deploying to production</a></li></ol></details></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance\">Web performance</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/why_web_performance\">The \"why\" of web performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/What_is_web_performance\">What is web performance?</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/Perceived_performance\">Perceived performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/Measuring_performance\">Measuring performance</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/Multimedia\">Multimedia: Images</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/video\">Multimedia: video</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/JavaScript\">JavaScript performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/HTML\">HTML performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/CSS\">CSS performance optimization</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Performance/business_case_for_performance\">The business case for web performance</a></li></ol></details></li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing\">Testing</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Introduction\">Introduction to cross-browser testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Testing_strategies\">Strategies for carrying out testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/HTML_and_CSS\">Handling common HTML and CSS problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Feature_detection\">Implementing feature detection</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Automated_testing\">Introduction to automated testing</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Testing/Your_own_automation_environment\">Setting up your own test automation environment</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Transform_animate\">Transform and animate CSS</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Security_privacy\">Security and privacy</a></li><li class=\"section\">Further resources</li><li class=\"toggle\"><details><summary><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto\">How to solve common problems</a></summary><ol><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_HTML_problems\">Solve common HTML problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_CSS_problems\">Solve common CSS problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Solve_JavaScript_problems\">Solve common JavaScript problems</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Web_mechanics\">Web mechanics</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Tools_and_setup\">Tools and setup</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Howto/Design_and_accessibility\">Design and accessibility</a></li></ol></details></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/About\">About</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Educators\">Resources for educators</a></li><li><a href=\"/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Changelog\">Changelog</a></li></ol>","source":{"folder":"en-us/learn_web_development/extensions/forms/advanced_form_styling","github_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/blob/main/files/en-us/learn_web_development/extensions/forms/advanced_form_styling/index.md","last_commit_url":"https://github.com/mdn/content/commit/5b20f5f4265f988f80f513db0e4b35c7e0cd70dc","filename":"index.md"},"summary":"In this article, we will see what can be done with CSS to style the types of form control that are more difficult to style — the \"bad\" and \"ugly\" categories. As we saw in the previous article, text fields and buttons are perfectly easy to style; now we will dig into styling the more problematic bits.","title":"Advanced form styling","toc":[{"text":"appearance: controlling OS-level styling","id":"appearance_controlling_os-level_styling"},{"text":"What can be done about the \"ugly\" elements?","id":"what_can_be_done_about_the_ugly_elements"},{"text":"Summary","id":"summary"}],"pageType":"learn-module-chapter"}}</script></body></html>