How to style a checkbox using CSS

Answer 1

You can achieve quite a cool custom checkbox effect by using the new abilities that come with the :after and :before pseudo classes. The advantage to this, is: You don't need to add anything more to the DOM, just the standard checkbox.

Note this will only work for compatible browsers. I believe this is related to the fact that some browsers do not allow you to set :after and :before on input elements. Which unfortunately means for the moment only WebKit browsers are supported. Firefox + Internet Explorer will still allow the checkboxes to function, just unstyled, and this will hopefully change in the future (the code does not use vendor prefixes).

This is a WebKit browser solution only (Chrome, Safari, Mobile browsers)

See Example Fiddle

$(function() {
  $('input').change(function() {
    $('div').html(Math.random());
  });
});

/* Main Classes */
.myinput[type="checkbox"]:before {
  position: relative;
  display: block;
  width: 11px;
  height: 11px;
  border: 1px solid #808080;
  content: "";
  background: #FFF;
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:after {
  position: relative;
  display: block;
  left: 2px;
  top: -11px;
  width: 7px;
  height: 7px;
  border-width: 1px;
  border-style: solid;
  border-color: #B3B3B3 #dcffffde #dcffffde #B3B3B3;
  content: "";
  background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #B1B6BE 0%, #FFF 100%);
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-position: center;
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:checked:after {
  background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAHCAQAAABuW59YAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAIGNIUk0AAHolAACAgwAA+f8AAIDpAAB1MAAA6mAAADqYAAAXb5JfxUYAAAB2SURBVHjaAGkAlv8A3QDyAP0A/QD+Dam3W+kCAAD8APYAAgTVZaZCGwwA5wr0AvcA+Dh+7UX/x24AqK3Wg/8nt6w4/5q71wAAVP9g/7rTXf9n/+9N+AAAtpJa/zf/S//DhP8H/wAA4gzWj2P4lsf0JP0A/wADAHB0Ngka6UmKAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'), linear-gradient(135deg, #B1B6BE 0%, #FFF 100%);
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:disabled:after {
  -webkit-filter: opacity(0.4);
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:not(:disabled):checked:hover:after {
  background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAcAAAAHCAQAAABuW59YAAAACXBIWXMAAAsTAAALEwEAmpwYAAAAIGNIUk0AAHolAACAgwAA+f8AAIDpAAB1MAAA6mAAADqYAAAXb5JfxUYAAAB2SURBVHjaAGkAlv8A3QDyAP0A/QD+Dam3W+kCAAD8APYAAgTVZaZCGwwA5wr0AvcA+Dh+7UX/x24AqK3Wg/8nt6w4/5q71wAAVP9g/7rTXf9n/+9N+AAAtpJa/zf/S//DhP8H/wAA4gzWj2P4lsf0JP0A/wADAHB0Ngka6UmKAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'), linear-gradient(135deg, #8BB0C2 0%, #FFF 100%);
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:not(:disabled):hover:after {
  background-image: linear-gradient(135deg, #8BB0C2 0%, #FFF 100%);
  border-color: #85A9BB #92C2DA #92C2DA #85A9BB;
}

.myinput[type="checkbox"]:not(:disabled):hover:before {
  border-color: #3D7591;
}

/* Large checkboxes */
.myinput.large {
  height: 22px;
  width: 22px;
}

.myinput.large[type="checkbox"]:before {
  width: 20px;
  height: 20px;
}

.myinput.large[type="checkbox"]:after {
  top: -20px;
  width: 16px;
  height: 16px;
}

/* Custom checkbox */
.myinput.large.custom[type="checkbox"]:checked:after {
  background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAAGHRFWHRBdXRob3IAbWluZWNyYWZ0aW5mby5jb23fZidLAAAAk0lEQVQ4y2P4//8/AyUYwcAD+OzN/oMwshjRBoA0Gr8+DcbIhhBlAEyz+qZZ/7WPryHNAGTNMOxpJvo/w0/uP0kGgGwGaZbrKgfTGnLc/0nyAgiDbEY2BCRGdCDCnA2yGeYVog0Aae5MV4c7Gzk6CRqAbDM2w/EaQEgzXgPQnU2SAcTYjNMAYm3GaQCxNuM0gFwMAPUKd8XyBVDcAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'), linear-gradient(135deg, #B1B6BE 0%, #FFF 100%);
}

.myinput.large.custom[type="checkbox"]:not(:disabled):checked:hover:after {
  background-image: url('data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAAGHRFWHRBdXRob3IAbWluZWNyYWZ0aW5mby5jb23fZidLAAAAk0lEQVQ4y2P4//8/AyUYwcAD+OzN/oMwshjRBoA0Gr8+DcbIhhBlAEyz+qZZ/7WPryHNAGTNMOxpJvo/w0/uP0kGgGwGaZbrKgfTGnLc/0nyAgiDbEY2BCRGdCDCnA2yGeYVog0Aae5MV4c7Gzk6CRqAbDM2w/EaQEgzXgPQnU2SAcTYjNMAYm3GaQCxNuM0gFwMAPUKd8XyBVDcAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC'), linear-gradient(135deg, #8BB0C2 0%, #FFF 100%);
}

  

    
Normal:
    

    

    

    

  
  

    
Small:
    

    

    

    

  
  

    
Large:
    

    

    

    

  
  

    
Custom icon:
    

    

    

    

  

Bonus Webkit style flipswitch fiddle

$(function() {
  var f = function() {
    $(this).next().text($(this).is(':checked') ? ':checked' : ':not(:checked)');
  };
  $('input').change(f).trigger('change');
});

body {
  font-family: arial;
}

.flipswitch {
  position: relative;
  background: white;
  width: 120px;
  height: 40px;
  -webkit-appearance: initial;
  border-radius: 3px;
  -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
  outline: none;
  font-size: 14px;
  font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, sans-serif;
  font-weight: bold;
  cursor: pointer;
  border: 1px solid #ffffd;
}

.flipswitch:after {
  position: absolute;
  top: 5%;
  display: block;
  line-height: 32px;
  width: 45%;
  height: 90%;
  background: #fff;
  box-sizing: border-box;
  text-align: center;
  transition: all 0.3s ease-in 0s;
  color: black;
  border: #888 1px solid;
  border-radius: 3px;
}

.flipswitch:after {
  left: 2%;
  content: "OFF";
}

.flipswitch:checked:after {
  left: 53%;
  content: "ON";
}

Webkit friendly mobile-style checkbox/flipswitch