Forms with multiple columns, no tables

Question

How to position a complex form with multiple fields in line across the screen?

Answer 1

That would be done using CSS by setting the "display" property to "inline" (since form elements are, by default, block level elements).

Answer 2

Do a search for "layouts without tables". Many sites describe formatting with CSS. Here is a simple intro: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/css/article.php/3642151

Answer 3

Why are people so hell-bent on avoiding tables?

Tables are not deprecated and should be used when displaying content which logically belongs in a table.

If your form is logically grouped such that a table would be intuitive, please use a table.

Always be thinking: "What's the cleanest, simplest, most maintainable way to achieve this result."

If you want a fluid form with a variable number columns, then disregard this.

Answer 4

input fields, by default, are inline. Therefore, you can simply use line them up without
Another option if you want them lined up correctly is as follows:

<div id="col1" style="float: left;>
    <input type="text" name="field1" />
    <br />
    <input type="text" name="field3" />
</div>

<div id="col2" style="float: left;>
    <input type="text" name="field2" />
    <br />
    <input type="text" name="field4" />
</div>

Answer 5

I suggest you blueprint CSS framework. Have a quick look at the demo page.

Answer 6

There are many different ways to do this. It's all a matter of preference. What I typically do is have a wrapper div that contains all of the rows, and then a div block per row that contains the label, input, and validator. You can use the line-height CSS property to help you with vertical alignment. Example:

<div class="formWrapper">
<form>
   <div class="formItem">
      <label for="firstName">First Name:</label>
      <input name="firstName" id="firstName" class="required" type="text" />
      <span class="validator" style="display: none;">*</>
   </div>
   ... <!-- Rinse repeat -->
</form>
</div>

<style type="text/css">
   .formWrapper { width: 400px }
   .formWrapper .formItem { line-height: 35px; height: 35px; }
   .formWrapper label { width: 50px; }
   .formWrapper input { width: 100px; border: 1px solid #000; }
   .formWrapper .validator { padding-left: 10px; color: #FF0000; }
</style>

Hope that helps.

Answer 7

This is what I usually use when I need to design pretty complex forms.

HTML:

<fieldset>
    <legend>Consent group</legend>
    <form>
        <fieldset class="nolegend">
            <p><label><span>Title</span> <input type="text" name="title" size="40" value="" /></label></p>
            <p><label><span>Short name</span> <input type="text" name="sname" size="20" value="" /></label></p>
            <p><label><br /><input type="checkbox" name="approval"> This consent group requires approval</label></p>
  </fieldset>
        <fieldset class="nolegend">
            <p><label><span>Data use limitations</span> <textarea name="dul" cols="64" rows="4"></textarea></label></p>
        </fieldset>
        <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
    </form>
</fieldset>

CSS:

body, input, textarea, select {
    font: 1em Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
input, textarea, select { font-size: .8em }
fieldset,
fieldset legend {
    background-color: #EEE;
}
fieldset {
    border: none;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0 0 .5em .01em;
    top: 1.25em;
    position: relative;
    margin-bottom: 2em;
}
fieldset fieldset {
    margin: 0 0 1em 0;
}
fieldset legend {
    padding: .25em .5em 0 .5em;
    border-bottom: none;
    font-weight: bold;
    margin-top: -1.25em;
    position: relative;
    *left: -.5em;
    color: #666;
}fieldset form,
fieldset .fieldset {
    margin: 0;
    padding: 1em .5em 0 .5em;
    overflow: hidden;
}
fieldset.nolegend {
    position: static;
    margin-bottom: 1em;
    background-color: transparent;
    padding: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
}
fieldset.nolegend p,
fieldset.nolegend div {
    float: left;
    margin: 0 1em 0 0;
}
fieldset.nolegend p:last-child,
fieldset.nolegend div:last-child {
    margin-right: 0;
}
fieldset.nolegend label>span {
    display: block;
}
fieldset.nolegend label span {
    _display: block;
}

I omitted couple lines of CSS with Safari hacks. You can check out live version of this code.

Answer 8

I prefer the slightly-more-semantic way, using a definition list:

<dl class="form">
    <dt><label for="input1">One:</label></dt>
    <dd><input type="text" name="input1" id="input1"></dd>
    <dt><label for="input2">Two:</label></dt>
    <dd><input type="text" name="input2" id="input2"></dd>
</dl>

Then your CSS:

dl.form {
    width:100%;
    float:left;
    clear:both;
}
dl.form dt {
    width:50%;
    float:left;
    clear:left;
    text-align:right;
}
dl.form dd {
    width:50%;
    float:left;
    clear:right;
    text-align:left;
}

This should produce a form centered in the page, with the labels in the left column and the inputs in the right