Tutorial :Forms with multiple columns, no tables

Question:

How to position a complex form with multiple fields in line across the screen?

Solution:1

Why are people so hell-bent on avoiding tables?

Tables are not deprecated and should be used when displaying content which logically belongs in a table.

If your form is logically grouped such that a table would be intuitive, please use a table.

Always be thinking: "What's the cleanest, simplest, most maintainable way to achieve this result."

If you want a fluid form with a variable number columns, then disregard this.

Solution:2

I prefer the slightly-more-semantic way, using a definition list:

<dl class="form">      <dt><label for="input1">One:</label></dt>      <dd><input type="text" name="input1" id="input1"></dd>      <dt><label for="input2">Two:</label></dt>      <dd><input type="text" name="input2" id="input2"></dd>  </dl>

Then your CSS:

dl.form {      width:100%;      float:left;      clear:both;  }  dl.form dt {      width:50%;      float:left;      clear:left;      text-align:right;  }  dl.form dd {      width:50%;      float:left;      clear:right;      text-align:left;  }

This should produce a form centered in the page, with the labels in the left column and the inputs in the right

Solution:3

There are many different ways to do this. It's all a matter of preference. What I typically do is have a wrapper div that contains all of the rows, and then a div block per row that contains the label, input, and validator. You can use the line-height CSS property to help you with vertical alignment. Example:

<div class="formWrapper">  <form>     <div class="formItem">        <label for="firstName">First Name:</label>        <input name="firstName" id="firstName" class="required" type="text" />        <span class="validator" style="display: none;">*</>     </div>     ... <!-- Rinse repeat -->  </form>  </div>    <style type="text/css">     .formWrapper { width: 400px }     .formWrapper .formItem { line-height: 35px; height: 35px; }     .formWrapper label { width: 50px; }     .formWrapper input { width: 100px; border: 1px solid #000; }     .formWrapper .validator { padding-left: 10px; color: #FF0000; }  </style>

Hope that helps.

Solution:4

After looking at many many different solutions, I found the examples on this page (particularly the one from 'Fatal'?) some of the most helpful. But the extensive

and tags did bother me a bit. So here is a little bit of a modification that some may like. Also, you find some sort of 'wrapper' or 'fieldset' style very necessary to keep the float from affecting other HTML. Refer to examples above.

<style>  .formcol{  float: left;  padding: 2px;  }   .formcol label {  font-weight: bold;  display:block;}   </style>    <div class="formcol">      <label for="org">organization</label>      <input type="text" id="org" size="24" name="org" />    </div>   <div class="formcol">      <label for="fax">fax</label>      <input type="text" id="fax" name="fax" size="2" />    </div>    <div class="formcol">      <label for="3">three</label>      <input type="text" id="3" name="3" />      <label for="4">four</label>      <input type="text" id="4" name="4" />        <label for="5">five</label>      <input type="text" id="5" name="5" />    </div>   <div class="formcol">      <label for="6">six</label>      <input type="text" id="6" name="6" />    </div>

Solution:5

Do a search for "layouts without tables". Many sites describe formatting with CSS. Here is a simple intro: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/css/article.php/3642151

Solution:6

I suggest you blueprint CSS framework. Have a quick look at the demo page.

Solution:7

This is what I usually use when I need to design pretty complex forms.

HTML:

<fieldset>
    <legend>Consent group</legend>
    <form>
        <fieldset class="nolegend">
            <p><label><span>Title</span> <input type="text" name="title" size="40" value="" /></label></p>
            <p><label><span>Short name</span> <input type="text" name="sname" size="20" value="" /></label></p>
            <p><label><br /><input type="checkbox" name="approval"> This consent group requires approval</label></p>
     </fieldset>
        <fieldset class="nolegend">
            <p><label><span>Data use limitations</span> <textarea name="dul" cols="64" rows="4"></textarea></label></p>
        </fieldset>
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
    </form>
</fieldset>

CSS:

body, input, textarea, select {
    font: 1em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
input, textarea, select { font-size: .8em }
fieldset,
fieldset legend {
    background-color: #EEE;
}
fieldset {
    border: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0 0 .5em .01em;
    top: 1.25em;
    position: relative;
    margin-bottom: 2em;
}
fieldset fieldset {
    margin: 0 0 1em 0;
}
fieldset legend {
    padding: .25em .5em 0 .5em;
    border-bottom: none;
    font-weight: bold;
    margin-top: -1.25em;
    position: relative;
    *left: -.5em;
    color: #666;
}fieldset form,
fieldset .fieldset {
    margin: 0;
    padding: 1em .5em 0 .5em;
    overflow: hidden;
}
fieldset.nolegend {
    position: static;
    margin-bottom: 1em;
    background-color: transparent;
    padding: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
}
fieldset.nolegend p,
fieldset.nolegend div {
    float: left;
    margin: 0 1em 0 0;
}
fieldset.nolegend p:last-child,
fieldset.nolegend div:last-child {
    margin-right: 0;
}
fieldset.nolegend label>span {
    display: block;
}
fieldset.nolegend label span {
    _display: block;
}

I omitted couple lines of CSS with Safari hacks. You can check out live version of this code.

Solution:8

Pace KyleFarris but I just had to give Ben S a vote for having the guts to mention tables. Just look at the variety of CSS solutions on this page and around the internet for a ridiculously simple problem. CSS may one day become a good solution, but for the time being replicating the simple row and column grid that the table tag provides is extremely complex. I have spent countless fruitless hours with this prejudice against tables for things like a form. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Solution:9

That would be done using CSS by setting the "display" property to "inline" (since form elements are, by default, block level elements).

Solution:10

input fields, by default, are inline. Therefore, you can simply use line them up without
Another option if you want them lined up correctly is as follows:

<div id="col1" style="float: left;>      <input type="text" name="field1" />      <br />      <input type="text" name="field3" />  </div>    <div id="col2" style="float: left;>      <input type="text" name="field2" />      <br />      <input type="text" name="field4" />  </div>

Solution:11

I prefer to use fieldset to group all elements and p for each form field.

<html>  <head>  <style type="text/css">      fieldset {          width: 500px;          background-color: lightblue;      }        fieldset legend {          font-weight: bold;      }        fieldset p {          clear:both;          padding: 5px;      }        fieldset label {          text-align: left;          width: 100px;          float: left;          font-weight: bold;      }        fieldset .Validator {          color: red !important;          font-weight: bold;      }     </style>  <head>  <body>      <form>          <fieldset>              <legend>Data</legend>              <p>                  <label for="firstName">First Name:</label>                  <input name="firstName" id="firstName" class="required" type="text" />                  <span class="Validator" style="display: none;">*</span>              </p>              <p>                  <label for="lastName">Last Name:</label>                  <input name="lastName" id="lastName" class="required" type="text" />                  <span class="Validator">*</span>              </p>          </fieldset>      </form>  </body>  </html>

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