I\'d like to add an image icon to an input placeholder, like in this picture:
background-image
and use text-indent
or a padding
to shift the text to the right.Honestly, I would avoid usage of HTML5/CSS3 without a good fallback. There are just too many people using old browsers that don't support all the new fancy stuff. It will take a while before we can drop the fallback, unfortunately :(
The first method I mentioned is the safest and easiest. Both ways requires Javascript to hide the icon.
CSS:
input#search {
background-image: url(bg.jpg);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
text-indent: 20px;
}
HTML:
<input type="text" id="search" name="search" onchange="hideIcon(this);" value="search" />
Javascript:
function hideIcon(self) {
self.style.backgroundImage = 'none';
}
I can't believe I said "Both ways requires JavaScript to hide the icon.", because this is not entirely true.
The most common timing to hide placeholder text is on change, as suggested in this answer. For icons however it's okay to hide them on focus which can be done in CSS with the active
pseudo-class.
#search:active { background-image: none; }
Heck, using CSS3 you can make it fade away!
http://jsfiddle.net/2tTxE/
Of course, there's the CSS3 ::before pseudo-elements too. Beware of browser support though!
Chrome Firefox IE Opera Safari
:before (yes) 1.0 8.0 4 4.0
::before (yes) 1.5 9.0 7 4.0
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/::before
Adding to Tim's answer:
#search:placeholder-shown {
// show background image, I like svg
`CSS:
input#search{
background-image: url(bg.jpg);
background-repeat: no-repeat;
text-indent: 20px;
}
input#search:focus{
background-image:none;
}
HTML:
<input type="text" id="search" name="search" value="search" />`
<html>
<head>
<style>
input[type=text] {
width: 50%;
box-sizing: border-box;
border: 2px solid #ccc;
border-radius: 4px;
font-size: 16px;
background-color: white;
background-image: url('searchicon.png');
background-position: 10px 10px;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
padding: 12px 20px 12px 40px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Input with icon:</p>
<form>
<input type="text" name="search" placeholder="Search..">
</form>
</body>
</html>
I don't know whether there's a better answer out there as time goes by but this is simple and it works;
input[type='email'] {
background: white url(images/mail.svg) no-repeat ;
}
input[type='email']:focus {
background-image: none;
}
Style it up to suit.