Custom radio/checkbox buttons with perfect alignment

custom-radio-checkbox-buttons-with-perfect-alignment.markdown

Custom radio/checkbox buttons with perfect alignment

Learn how to create custom, accessible radio and checkbox buttons in CSS that perfectly align with their labels.

Tutorial on CodyHouse: https://codyhouse.co/blog/post/custom-accessible-radio-checkbox-buttons-vertical-alignment

A Pen by Matt Daniel Brown on CodePen.

License.

index.html

<div class="container max-width-xs padding-y-md">
  <form>
    <fieldset class="margin-bottom-md">
      <legend class="form-legend">Custom Radio Buttons</legend>

      <ul class="flex flex-column gap-xxxs">
        <li>
          <input class="radio" type="radio" name="radio-button" id="radio-1" checked>
          <label for="radio-1">Choice 1</label>
        </li>

        <li>
          <input class="radio" type="radio" name="radio-button" id="radio-2">
          <label for="radio-2">Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Voluptatem, vero. Dolore et eveniet maxime hic tempora neque explicabo eaque doloremque!</label>
        </li>
      </ul>
    </fieldset>

    <fieldset class="margin-bottom-md">
      <legend class="form-legend">Custom Checkboxes</legend>

      <div class="flex flex-column gap-xxxs">
        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-1" checked>
          <label for="checkbox-1">Option 1</label>
        </div>

        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-2">
          <label for="checkbox-2">Option 2</label>
        </div>
      </div>
    </fieldset>
    
    <fieldset class="margin-bottom-md">
      <legend class="form-legend">Different Text Size</legend>

      <div class="flex flex-column gap-xxxs">
        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-1b" checked>
          <label class="text-md" for="checkbox-1b">Option 1</label>
        </div>

        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-2b">
          <label class="text-md" for="checkbox-2b">Option 2</label>
        </div>
      </div>
    </fieldset>
    
    <fieldset>
      <legend class="form-legend">Inline Buttons</legend>

      <div class="flex flex-wrap gap-md">
        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-1c" checked>
          <label for="checkbox-1c">Option 1</label>
        </div>

        <div>
          <input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" id="checkbox-2c">
          <label for="checkbox-2c">Option 2</label>
        </div>
      </div>
    </fieldset>
  </form>
</div>

style.scss

/* -------------------------------- 

Custom radio and checkbox buttons
Tutorial: https://codyhouse.co/blog/post/custom-accessible-radio-checkbox-buttons-vertical-alignment

-------------------------------- */

:root {
  // radios and checkboxes
  --checkbox-radio-size: 18px;
  --checkbox-radio-gap: var(--space-xxxs); // gap between button and label
  --checkbox-radio-border-width: 2px;
  --checkbox-radio-line-height: var(--body-line-height);

  // radio buttons
  --radio-marker-size: 8px;

  // checkboxes
  --checkbox-marker-size: 12px;
  --checkbox-radius: 4px;
}

// hide native buttons
.radio,
.checkbox {
  position: absolute;
  margin: 0 !important;
  padding: 0 !important;
  opacity: 0;
  height: 0;
  width: 0;
  pointer-events: none;
}

// label
.radio + label,
.checkbox + label { 
  display: inline-flex;
  align-items: flex-start;
  line-height: var(--checkbox-radio-line-height);
  user-select: none;
  cursor: pointer;
}

// custom buttons - basic style
.radio + label::before,
.checkbox + label::before { 
  content: '';
  display: inline-block;
  position: relative;
  top: calc((1em * var(--checkbox-radio-line-height) - var(--checkbox-radio-size)) / 2);
  flex-shrink: 0;
  width: var(--checkbox-radio-size);
  height: var(--checkbox-radio-size);
  background-color: var(--color-bg);
  border-width: var(--checkbox-radio-border-width);
  border-color: var(--color-contrast-low);
  border-style: solid;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: center;
  margin-right: var(--checkbox-radio-gap);
  transition: transform .2s, border .2s;
}

// :hover
.radio:not(:checked):not(:focus) + label:hover::before,
.checkbox:not(:checked):not(:focus) + label:hover::before {
  border-color: lightness(var(--color-contrast-low), 0.7);
}

// radio only style
.radio + label::before {
  border-radius: 50%; 
}

// checkbox only style
.checkbox + label::before {
  border-radius: var(--checkbox-radius);
}

// :checked
.radio:checked + label::before,
.checkbox:checked + label::before {
  background-color: var(--color-primary);
  box-shadow: none;
  border-color: var(--color-primary);
  transition: transform .2s;
}

// :active
.radio:active + label::before,
.checkbox:active + label::before {
  transform: scale(0.8);
  transition: transform .2s;
}

// :checked:active
.radio:checked:active + label::before,
.checkbox:checked:active + label::before {
  transform: none;
  transition: none;
}

// radio button icon
.radio:checked + label::before {
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' viewBox='0 0 16 16'%3E%3Cg class='nc-icon-wrapper' fill='%23ffffff'%3E%3Ccircle cx='8' cy='8' r='8' fill='%23ffffff'%3E%3C/circle%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E");
  background-size: var(--radio-marker-size);
}

// checkbox button icon
.checkbox:checked + label::before {
  background-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='12' height='12' viewBox='0 0 12 12'%3E%3Cpolyline points='1 6.5 4 9.5 11 2.5' fill='none' stroke='%23FFFFFF' stroke-linecap='round' stroke-linejoin='round' stroke-width='2'/%3E%3C/svg%3E");
  background-size: var(--checkbox-marker-size);
}

// :focus
.radio:checked:active + label::before,
.checkbox:checked:active + label::before,
.radio:focus + label::before,
.checkbox:focus + label::before {
  border-color: var(--color-primary);
  box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px alpha(var(--color-primary), 0.2);
}

// --radio--bg, --checkbox--bg -> variation with background color
.radio--bg + label, .checkbox--bg + label {
  padding: var(--space-xxxxs) var(--space-xxxs);
  border-radius: var(--radius-md);
  transition: background .2s;
}

.radio--bg + label:hover, .checkbox--bg + label:hover {
  background-color: var(--color-contrast-lower);
}

.radio--bg:active + label,
.checkbox--bg:active + label,
.radio--bg:focus + label,
.checkbox--bg:focus + label {
  background-color: alpha(var(--color-primary), 0.1);
}

styles

<link href="https://unpkg.com/codyhouse-framework/main/assets/css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<link href="https://codepen.io/codyhouse/pen/oNxLjqp" rel="stylesheet" />