The element <input> is hiding a sneaky bottom padding

Question

The element <input> is hiding a sneaky bottom padding

I am facing a challenge with styling form elements precisely, and it's causing me frustration.

When I attempt to remove padding, margin, border, and outline from an input element (with display: block) so that its size is solely determined by the text within, the input field ends up with slightly more padding than other block-level elements styled in the same way. Here's an example: http://jsfiddle.net/nottrobin/b9zfa/

<input class="normalised testSubject" value="hello" />
<div class="normalised testSubject">hello</div>

When rendered:

In this example, the div has a computed height of 16px while the input has a computed height of 19px.

I've observed this behavior in Chrome 16, Firefox 9, and Opera 11, indicating it's consistent across rendering engines.

I can resolve the issue by manually setting a height, but I prefer not to as I want the design to remain responsive.

Could someone help me understand why this is happening and how I can ensure the input will have the same height as any block-level element following it?

html css forms webkit

Answer 1

Answer №1

When it comes to adjusting the <input>, keep in mind that the minimum line-height is determined by the font size. You can increase the line-height for both elements or remove it altogether. However, if you want to go below the minimum height, you need to utilize the first-line pseudo-element and set it to display: inline-block;.

For a practical demonstration of this solution, check out this demo: http://jsfiddle.net/ThinkingStiff/B7cmQ/

To address the discrepancy between the behavior of the <input> and <div>, even applying -webkit-appearance: none; doesn't entirely resolve it. There appears to be some underlying styling on <input> that treats its content as inline. Inline elements adhere to a minimum line-height based on font size, hence why the first-line fix works by styling the "child" element of the <input>.

This demo illustrates how inline elements demonstrate the minimum line-height behavior, with the <div> honoring line-height: 7px; while the <span> does not visually reflect this setting despite having a computed value of 7px;.

Explore the demo showcasing these differences here: http://jsfiddle.net/ThinkingStiff/zhReb/

See the HTML markup:

<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-large">div <br />large</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-medium">div <br />med</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-small">div <br />small</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-large">span <br />large</span> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-medium">span <br />med</span> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-small">span <br />small</span> 
</div>

CSS styles used:

#container { 
    background-color: lightblue;   
    display: inline-block; 
    height: 200px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
}

#div-large { 
    line-height: 50px; 
} 

#div-medium { 
    line-height: 20px; 
} 

#div-small { 
    line-height: 7px; 
}

#span-large { 
    line-height: 50px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
} 

#span-medium {
    line-height: 20px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
} 

#span-small {
    line-height: 7px;
    vertical-align: top;
}

Answer 2

When it comes to adjusting the <input>, keep in mind that the minimum line-height is determined by the font size. You can increase the line-height for both elements or remove it altogether. However, if you want to go below the minimum height, you need to utilize the first-line pseudo-element and set it to display: inline-block;.

For a practical demonstration of this solution, check out this demo: http://jsfiddle.net/ThinkingStiff/B7cmQ/

To address the discrepancy between the behavior of the <input> and <div>, even applying -webkit-appearance: none; doesn't entirely resolve it. There appears to be some underlying styling on <input> that treats its content as inline. Inline elements adhere to a minimum line-height based on font size, hence why the first-line fix works by styling the "child" element of the <input>.

This demo illustrates how inline elements demonstrate the minimum line-height behavior, with the <div> honoring line-height: 7px; while the <span> does not visually reflect this setting despite having a computed value of 7px;.

Explore the demo showcasing these differences here: http://jsfiddle.net/ThinkingStiff/zhReb/

See the HTML markup:

<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-large">div <br />large</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-medium">div <br />med</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <div id="div-small">div <br />small</div> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-large">span <br />large</span> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-medium">span <br />med</span> 
</div> 
<div id="container"> 
    <span id="span-small">span <br />small</span> 
</div>

CSS styles used:

#container { 
    background-color: lightblue;   
    display: inline-block; 
    height: 200px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
}

#div-large { 
    line-height: 50px; 
} 

#div-medium { 
    line-height: 20px; 
} 

#div-small { 
    line-height: 7px; 
}

#span-large { 
    line-height: 50px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
} 

#span-medium {
    line-height: 20px; 
    vertical-align: top; 
} 

#span-small {
    line-height: 7px;
    vertical-align: top;
}

Answer 3

Answer №2

By removing the line-height, the issue appears to be resolved.

View the updated fiddle here. Have only tested in Firefox for now.

Answer 4

By removing the line-height, the issue appears to be resolved.

View the updated fiddle here. Have only tested in Firefox for now.

Answer 5

Answer №3

Have you verified that they are utilizing the precise font (including size)?

You could experiment with applying box-sizing: border-box to the input.

Personally, I haven't encountered this problem before, although my experience with it is limited to a trial run on IE9...

Answer 6

Have you verified that they are utilizing the precise font (including size)?

You could experiment with applying box-sizing: border-box to the input.

Personally, I haven't encountered this problem before, although my experience with it is limited to a trial run on IE9...

Answer 7

Answer №4

Apologies for the delay in responding to this question, but I stumbled upon it during a Google search and thought I could contribute some valuable information regarding the <input> elements in Firefox.

It appears that Firefox's default form styling includes a rather cumbersome CSS rule:

input {
   ...
   line-height: normal !important;
   ...
}

This particular rule makes it extremely challenging to override the line-height property of any form input in Firefox. Despite this issue persisting over the years, attempts to remove the troublesome !important declaration from the rule have been met with resistance due to underlying implementation complexities. Surprisingly, there are even websites (such as YouTube) that rely on this rule's behavior.

To delve deeper into this topic and explore various discussions, please refer to Mozilla bug #349259. Additionally, you can check out informative blog posts on this matter at 456bereastreet.com and an older one by Eric Meyer at meyerweb.com.

Answer 8

Apologies for the delay in responding to this question, but I stumbled upon it during a Google search and thought I could contribute some valuable information regarding the <input> elements in Firefox.

It appears that Firefox's default form styling includes a rather cumbersome CSS rule:

input {
   ...
   line-height: normal !important;
   ...
}

This particular rule makes it extremely challenging to override the line-height property of any form input in Firefox. Despite this issue persisting over the years, attempts to remove the troublesome !important declaration from the rule have been met with resistance due to underlying implementation complexities. Surprisingly, there are even websites (such as YouTube) that rely on this rule's behavior.

To delve deeper into this topic and explore various discussions, please refer to Mozilla bug #349259. Additionally, you can check out informative blog posts on this matter at 456bereastreet.com and an older one by Eric Meyer at meyerweb.com.

The element <input> is hiding a sneaky bottom padding

Answer №1

Answer №2

Answer №3

Answer №4

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