CSS tips and tricks

We already know that CSS3 has the ability to create a lot of new possibilities to design and implement better web forms. Also, HTML5 has its important role when it comes about creating more usable forms, without actually needing any Javascript code.

Knowing that, check out the below preview to see the login form we’re going to create in this article:

View demo

Markup

<form id="login">
    <h1>Log In</h1>
    <fieldset id="inputs">
        <input id="username" type="text" placeholder="Username" autofocus required>
        <input id="password" type="password" placeholder="Password" required>
    </fieldset>
    <fieldset id="actions">
        <input type="submit" id="submit" value="Log in">
        <a href="">Forgot your password?</a><a href="">Register</a>
    </fieldset>
</form>

The HTML5 stuff

New HTML5 attributes descriptions, according to latest specifications:

• placeholder – A short hint (one word or a short phrase) intended to aid the user when entering data into the control represented by its element.
• required – Specifies that the element is a required part of form submission.
• autofocus – Specifies that the element represents a control to which a UA is meant to give focus as soon as the document is loaded.
• type=”password” – Specifies that its input element is a one-line plain-text edit control for entering a password. (not HTML5 specific)

The CSS

For this article, I will not paste the whole lines here. Instead, I’ll just add the ones who help creating some cool effects.

Paper stack effect

Box-shadow will help us creating this nice effect by defining multiple shadows that actually overlap.

#login
{
    box-shadow:
          0 0 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2),
          0 1px 1px rgba(0, 0, 0, .2),
          0 3px 0 #fff,
          0 4px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .2),
          0 6px 0 #fff,
          0 7px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .2);
}

Stitch effect

This effect is added using pseudo-elements. Using pseudo-elements helps you avoid extra markup and this is a perfect example: keep the markup clean and let the CSS do the magic.

#login
{
    position: absolute;
    z-index: 0;
}

#login:before
{
    content: '';
    position: absolute;
    z-index: -1;
    border: 1px dashed #ccc;
    top: 5px;
    bottom: 5px;
    left: 5px;
    right: 5px;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #fff;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #fff;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #fff;
}

Styles excerpt.

Subtle gradient lines

I’ve first seen this effect on Gene Locklin‘s page and I thought this is pretty cool. So, I decided to use it for highlighting the “Log in” heading. Using pseudo-elements (again) and CSS3 gradients some cool lines are added to simulate a strikeout effect.

h1
{
    text-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(255, 255, 255, .7), 0px 2px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
    text-transform: uppercase;
    text-align: center;
    color: #666;
    margin: 0 0 30px 0;
    letter-spacing: 4px;
    font: normal 26px/1 Verdana, Helvetica;
    position: relative;
}

h1:after, h1:before
{
    background-color: #777;
    content: "";
    height: 1px;
    position: absolute;
    top: 15px;
    width: 120px;
}

h1:after
{
    background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, right top, from(#777), to(#fff));
    background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(left, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(left, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(left, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -o-linear-gradient(left, #777, #fff);
    background-image: linear-gradient(left, #777, #fff);
    right: 0;
}

h1:before
{
    background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, right top, left top, from(#777), to(#fff));
    background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient(right, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -moz-linear-gradient(right, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -ms-linear-gradient(right, #777, #fff);
    background-image: -o-linear-gradient(right, #777, #fff);
    background-image: linear-gradient(right, #777, #fff);
    left: 0;
}

The final result

Using the above techniques, here’s the final result:

View demo

Conclusion

This login form looks very well also on older browsers, as you can see below:

Internet Explorer 8 screenshot.

As a future improvement, you can add also HTML5 placeholder fallback as you have seen in one of my previous articles.

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• Simple and effective dropdown login box
• Practical CSS3 tables with rounded corners
• Pure CSS3 accordion
• Fancy FAQ page using CSS3 only