HTML & CSS: create a checkbox without using 'checkbox'

Question

here's the code (and, yes, i'm using a basic reset.css):

.checkbox { border: 1px solid black; width: 10px; height: 10px; }

<ul>
    <li>
        <p><div class="checkbox"></div>I will!</p>
    </li>
    <li>
        <p><div class="checkbox"></div>I won't!</p>
    </li>
</ul>

you can see what i'm trying to do. essentially create a checkbox. the reason i'm NOT using a checkbox tag is because i have to export this thing to PDF so that it can be printed and hamfisted bogots can drag their X mark through the box. if i use the checkbox tag, it's too small. if i use and image, PDF doesn't line up right.

so. i need the CSS box to line up as expected. what am i missing? i've tried changing the div to display: inline; but it freakin' disappears! inline-block useless.

i tried like mad to search this one out, but to no avail, so if this showed up somewhere else, apologies.

WR!

display: inline-block; seems to work for me: jsfiddle.net/xEtEK/2 in Chrome/Mac. What browser are you using? — millimoose
– millimoose, Commented Oct 25, 2011 at 19:55

jessegavin · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 20:01:10Z

7

.checkbox { 
    border: 1px solid black; 
    width: .65em; 
    height: .65em; 
    display: inline-block;
    margin-right: 4px;
}

See it working here: http://jsfiddle.net/ZeaLM/

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 20:01

jessegavin

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5 Comments

Madara's Ghost Over a year ago

You shouldn't be using <p> inside of a <div>, as that might cause unexpected results in different browsers (the code is invalid as <p> is not permitted to contain any block-level elements).

jessegavin Over a year ago

Since when is using a <p> inside a <div> a bad thing? Also, I am not using a <p> inside a <div> and finally I was just modifying the CSS portion of his original code.

marissajmc Over a year ago

It's the other way around; <div> inside <p> is invalid html.

WhiteRau Over a year ago

thanks. combined with @Inerdia's comment, i got it working. thanks. i often forget to use good ol' &nbsp instead of empty space.

Madara's Ghost Over a year ago

@jessegavin yes, I meant it the other way around, sorry about that :P

Niet the Dark Absol · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 19:53:17Z

0

inline-block is the display you need for this.

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 19:53

Niet the Dark Absol

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4 Comments

Niet the Dark Absol Over a year ago

Hopefully WhiteRau will explain why it didn't work, since it's what I've always used for this kind of situation (inline box of defined width/height) and it's always worked for me.

millimoose Over a year ago

And works in this case (see my comment on the question) – so I'm guessing the problem is somewhere else.

Howdy_McGee Over a year ago

@Truth there have been many times when I make unorderlist navigation I have to use inline-block. Very useful.

Madara's Ghost Over a year ago

I know how and when to use inline-block, OP stated it didn't work for him that's all.

millimoose · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 19:57:35Z

0

Your browser might be persnickety about empty elements. Try adding a   into the <div>.

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 19:57

millimoose

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Comments

Madara's Ghost · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 20:01:54Z

0

<div> is not allowed inside of <p> elements (which doesn't allow any block-level elements inside of it).

See this example

In this example, I've used display: inline-block; and changed the <p> element into a <div>.

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 20:01

Madara's Ghost

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Comments

aziz punjani · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 20:02:06Z

0

There's many ways to do it, one of which is this

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 20:02

aziz punjani

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Comments

Alex Nazarov · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 20:04:38Z

0

Just to make sure - did you put the .checkbox selector inside a <style> tag in the actual HTML?

<style type="text/css">
    .checkbox { border: 1px solid black; width: 10px; height: 10px; }
</style>

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 20:04

Alex Nazarov

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Comments

LowTechGeek · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-25 20:15:20Z

0

1) Get rid of the <p> elements

2) Add float: left to your .checkbox style

3) Add   after the div or a padding: right to the div block to make it look better

4) Add li { list-style-type: none; } in your style block

5) Play around with vertical-align in your .checkbox style until you're happy

answered Oct 25, 2011 at 20:15

LowTechGeek

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