CSS :optional

By  on  

A decade ago HTML and CSS added the ability to, at least signal, validation of form fields. The required attribute helped inform users which fields were required, while pattern allowed developers to provide a regular expression to match against an <input>'s value. Targeting required fields and validation values with just CSS and HTML was very useful.

Did you know that CSS provides :optional to allow you to style form elements that aren't required?

input:optional, select:optional, textarea:optional {
  border: 1px solid #eee;
}

[required] {
  border: 1px solid red;
}

In a sense, it feels like :optional represents :not([required]), but :optional is limited to just form fields.

Recent Features

  • By
    9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos

    The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks.  Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead.  Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...

  • By
    How I Stopped WordPress Comment Spam

    I love almost every part of being a tech blogger:  learning, preaching, bantering, researching.  The one part about blogging that I absolutely loathe:  dealing with SPAM comments.  For the past two years, my blog has registered 8,000+ SPAM comments per day.  PER DAY.  Bloating my database...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

  1. It’s probably more like :not(:required), right?

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!