How to style a checkbox using CSS

Answer 1

No, you still can't style the checkbox itself, but I (finally) figured out how to style an illusion while keeping the functionality of clicking a checkbox. It means that you can toggle it even if the cursor isn't perfectly still without risking selecting text or triggering drag-and-drop!

This solution probably also fits radio buttons.

The following works in Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 30.0 and Chrome 40.0.2214.91 and is just a basic example. You can still use it in combination with background images and pseudo-elements.

http://jsfiddle.net/o0xo13yL/1/

label {
    display: inline-block;
    position: relative; /* Needed for checkbox absolute positioning */
    background-color: #eee;
    padding: .5rem;
    border: 1px solid #000;
    border-radius: .375rem;
    font-family: "Courier New";
    font-size: 1rem;
    line-height: 1rem;
}

label > input[type="checkbox"] {
    display: block;
    position: absolute; /* Remove it from the flow */
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    margin: -.5rem; /* Negative the padding of label to cover the "button" */
    cursor: pointer;
    opacity: 0; /* Make it transparent */
    z-index: 666; /* Place it on top of everything else */
}

label > input[type="checkbox"] + span {
    display: inline-block;
    width: 1rem;
    height: 1rem;
    border: 1px solid #000;
    margin-right: .5rem;
}

label > input[type="checkbox"]:checked + span {
    background-color: #666;
}


    
     Label text