What is the best way to utilize :focus while simultaneously applying properties through Javascript?

When styling an input element with JavaScript, it seems that any properties set this way are ignored in a :focus rule.

An example is provided to illustrate this:

  • Initially, the background and border of the input element matches the surrounding element (div.header)
  • By clicking on the [open] link, the hidden div.body element is revealed.
  • To make it clear that the title is a text field, the background and border of the input should match the newly shown textarea.

A :focus rule is set for both the textarea and the input, coloring the background yellow when they have focus.

However, this doesn't work on the input element because the properties were programmatically set. If these properties aren't set, the :focus works as expected. Properties set by the :focus rule that are not also set using .css() are honored.

This behavior is consistent across Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and IE, indicating that it is "expected behavior." Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any information online explaining why this is correct.

While it's possible to achieve the desired result using blur and focus handlers, the question remains about why this behavior occurs in the first place.

Answer №1

When you directly set the style of an element, it is essentially the same as using the HTML style attribute, which takes precedence over other styles in the cascade.

A recommended approach for handling CSS changes dynamically with JavaScript is to prepare your stylesheets beforehand and then adjust the elements to match new selectors by manipulating their class lists.

Another option is to alter the actual stylesheet using JavaScript.

Answer №2

The concept at play here is specificity, which has been detailed by the W3C in their documentation on specificity.

Specificity can be broken down into four components: a, b, c, and d. The hierarchy ranges from "a," being the most significant, to "d," being the least.

  • The value of component "a" is straightforward: it is 1 for declarations within a style attribute and 0 otherwise.

Given that .css directly updates the style attribute, it holds higher specificity compared to any rule in your stylesheet. While you could utilize !important for greater importance (with precedence over specificity), a more effective approach would be using classes (.addClass) instead of manipulating the style attribute directly.

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