Always Show Arrows for Number Input
While I enjoy small details that make user interfaces more elegant, I also believe that less is more, especially when it comes to native behavior. One native behavior I dislike is that <input type="number" /> elements only show the increment and decrement arrows when the input is focused. It's a needless focus change -- just show those controls all the time.
So how do we show those controls when the input isn't focused? An easy bit of CSS:
/* ensures the increment/decrement arrows always display */
input[type=number]::-webkit-inner-spin-button,
input[type=number]::-webkit-outer-spin-button {
opacity: 1;
}
I appreciate that the browser's native stylesheet doesn't use hidden tricks or privileged code -- it's all just CSS that we can override.
I'm always suspect when it comes to hover effects, as I feel hiding UI elements decreases accessibility no matter what the reason is.
![Conquering Impostor Syndrome]()
Two years ago I documented my struggles with Imposter Syndrome and the response was immense. I received messages of support and commiseration from new web developers, veteran engineers, and even persons of all experience levels in other professions. I've even caught myself reading the post...
![Create Namespaced Classes with MooTools]()
MooTools has always gotten a bit of grief for not inherently using and standardizing namespaced-based JavaScript classes like the Dojo Toolkit does. Many developers create their classes as globals which is generally frowned up. I mostly disagree with that stance, but each to their own. In any event...
![Multiple Backgrounds with CSS]()
Anyone that's been in the web development industry for 5+ years knows that there are certain features that we should have had several years ago. One of those features is the HTML5 placeholder; we used JavaScript shims for a decade before placeholder came...
![MooTools TwitterGitter Plugin]()
Everyone loves Twitter. Everyone loves MooTools. That's why everyone should love TwitterGitter, a MooTools plugin that retrieves a user's recent tweets and allows the user to format them however the user would like. TwitterGitter allows the user to choose the number of...
It’s worth mentioning that these styles only apply on desktop. The buttons are not shown in Chrome on Android which is probably better that way since the buttons are so small.
We can improve it by not showing the arrows for elements with step=”any”, in which case the input arrows don’t do anything.
/* ensures the increment/decrement arrows always display as long as step is not 'any' */ input[type="number"]:not([step="any"])::-webkit-inner-spin-button, input[type="number"]:not([step="any"])::-webkit-outer-spin-button { opacity: 1; }