---
title: CSS Forms
description: "> The look of an HTML form can be greatly improved with CSS: `` ##   ## Styling Input Fields Use the `width` property to determine the width of the input field: `input { width: 100%; }` The example above applies to…"
url: "https://apprentice.mn/docs/css-forms/"
updated: "2021-05-11"
category: CSS
---

# CSS Forms

> The look of an HTML form can be greatly improved with CSS:

     ``

##  

## Styling Input Fields

Use the `width` property to determine the width of the input field:

           `input {
  width: 100%;
}`

The example above applies to all <input> elements. If you only want to style a specific input type, you can use attribute selectors:

- `input[type=text]` – will only select text fields
- `input[type=password]` – will only select password fields
- `input[type=number]` – will only select number fields
- etc..

## Padded Inputs

Use the `padding` property to add space inside the text field.

**Tip:** When you have many inputs after each other, you might also want to add some `margin`, to add more space outside of them:

 

Padded text fields:

## Bordered Inputs

Use the `border` property to change the border size and color, and use the `border-radius` property to add rounded corners:

Text fields with borders:

      `input[type=text] {
  border: 2px solid red;
  border-radius: 4px;
}`

If you only want a bottom border, use the `border-bottom` property:

Text fields with only a bottom border:

      `input[type=text] {
  border: none;
  border-bottom: 2px solid red;
}`

## Colored Inputs

Use the `background-color` property to add a background color to the input, and the `color` property to change the text color:

           `input[type=text] {
  background-color: #3CBC8D;
  color: white;
}`

## Focused Inputs

By default, some browsers will add a blue outline around the input when it gets focus (clicked on). You can remove this behavior by adding `outline: none;` to the input.

Use the `:focus` selector to do something with the input field when it gets focus:

In this example, we use the :focus selector to add a background color to the text field when it gets focused (clicked on):

## Input with icon/image

If you want an icon inside the input, use the `background-image` property and position it with the `background-position` property. Also notice that we add a large left padding to reserve the space of the icon:

     `input[type=text] {
  background-color: white;
  background-image: url('searchicon.png');
  background-position: 10px 10px;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  padding-left: 40px;
}`

## Animated Search Input

In this example we use the CSS `transition` property to animate the width of the search input when it gets focus. You will learn more about the `transition` property later, in our [CSS Transitions](https://www.w3schools.com/css/css3_transitions.asp) chapter.

           `input[type=text] {
  transition: width 0.4s ease-in-out;
}

input[type=text]:focus {
  width: 100%;
}`

## Styling Textareas

**Tip:** Use the `resize` property to prevent textareas from being resized (disable the “grabber” in the bottom right corner):

           `textarea {
  width: 100%;
  height: 150px;
  padding: 12px 20px;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  border: 2px solid #ccc;
  border-radius: 4px;
  background-color: #f8f8f8;
  resize: none;
}`

## Styling Select Menus

          `select {
  width: 100%;
  padding: 16px 20px;
  border: none;
  border-radius: 4px;
  background-color: #f1f1f1;
}`

## Styling Input Buttons

           `input[type=button], input[type=submit], input[type=reset] {
  background-color: #4CAF50;
  border: none;
  color: white;
  padding: 16px 32px;
  text-decoration: none;
  margin: 4px 2px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

/* Tip: use width: 100% for full-width buttons */`

For more information about how to style buttons with CSS, read our [CSS Buttons Tutorial](https://apprentice.mn/docs/css-buttons/).

**Advanced:** The following example use [media queries](https://apprentice.mn/docs/css-media-queries/) to create a responsive form. You will learn more about this in a later chapter.

## Responsive Form

Resize the browser window to see the effect. When the screen is less than 600px wide, make the two columns stack on top of each other instead of next to each other.

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