How to remove the border highlight on an input text element

Question

When an HTML element is \'focused\' (currently selected/tabbed into), many browsers (at least Safari and Chrome) will put a blue border around it.

For the layout I a

Answer 1

try this css, it work for me

textarea:focus, input:focus{ border: none; }

Answer 2

This is a common concern.

The default outline that browsers render is ugly.

See this for example:

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

<form>
  <label>Click to see the input below to see the outline</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
</form>

---

The most common "fix" that most recommend is outline:none - which if used incorrectly - is disaster for accessibility.

---

So...of what use is the outline anyway?

There's a very dry-cut website I found which explains everything well.

It provides visual feedback for links that have "focus" when navigating a web document using the TAB key (or equivalent). This is especially useful for folks who can't use a mouse or have a visual impairment. If you remove the outline you are making your site inaccessible for these people.

Ok, let's try it out same example as above, now use the TAB key to navigate.

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

<form>
  <label>Click on this text and then use the TAB key to naviagte inside the snippet.</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
</form>

Notice how you can tell where the focus is even without clicking the input?

Now, let's try outline:none on our trusty <input>

So, once again, use the TAB key to navigate after clicking the text and see what happens.

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

input {
  outline: none;
}

<form>
  <label>Click on this text and then use the TAB key to naviagte inside the snippet.</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
</form>

See how it's more difficult to figure out where the focus is? The only telling sign is the cursor blinking. My example above is overly simplistic. In real-world situations, you wouldn't have only one element on the page. Something more along the lines of this.

.wrapper {
  width: 500px;
  max-width: 100%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

input {
  outline: none;
}

<div class="wrapper">

  <form>
    <label>Click on this text and then use the TAB key to naviagte inside the snippet.</label>
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
  </form>

  <form>
    First name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="firstname"><br> Last name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="lastname">
  </form>


  <form>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" checked> Male<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female"> Female<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="other"> Other
  </form>



  <form>
    <label for="GET-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="GET-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <label for="POST-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="POST-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <fieldset>
      <legend>Title</legend>
      <input type="radio" name="radio" id="radio">
      <label for="radio">Click me</label>
    </fieldset>
  </form>

</div>

Now compare that to the same template if we keep the outline:

.wrapper {
  width: 500px;
  max-width: 100%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

<div class="wrapper">

  <form>
    <label>Click on this text and then use the TAB key to naviagte inside the snippet.</label>
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
  </form>

  <form>
    First name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="firstname"><br> Last name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="lastname">
  </form>


  <form>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" checked> Male<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female"> Female<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="other"> Other
  </form>



  <form>
    <label for="GET-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="GET-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <label for="POST-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="POST-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <fieldset>
      <legend>Title</legend>
      <input type="radio" name="radio" id="radio">
      <label for="radio">Click me</label>
    </fieldset>
  </form>

</div>

So we have established the following

1. Outlines are ugly
2. Removing them makes life more difficult.

---

So what's the answer?

Remove the ugly outline and add your own visual cues to indicate focus.

Here's a very simple example of what I mean.

I remove the outline and add a bottom border on :focus and :active. I also remove the default borders on the top, left and right sides by setting them to transparent on :focus and :active (personal preference)

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

input {
  outline: none
}

input:focus,
input:active {
  border-color: transparent;
  border-bottom: 2px solid red
}

<form>
  <label>Click to see the input below to see the outline</label>
  <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
</form>

So, we try the approach above with our "real-world" example from earlier:

.wrapper {
  width: 500px;
  max-width: 100%;
  margin: 0 auto;
}

form,
label {
  margin: 1em auto;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

input {
  outline: none
}

input:focus,
input:active {
  border-color: transparent;
  border-bottom: 2px solid red
}

<div class="wrapper">

  <form>
    <label>Click on this text and then use the TAB key to naviagte inside the snippet.</label>
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
    <input type="text" placeholder="placeholder text" />
  </form>

  <form>
    First name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="firstname"><br> Last name:<br>
    <input type="text" name="lastname">
  </form>


  <form>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" checked> Male<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female"> Female<br>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="other"> Other
  </form>



  <form>
    <label for="GET-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="GET-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <label for="POST-name">Name:</label>
    <input id="POST-name" type="text" name="name">
  </form>


  <form>
    <fieldset>
      <legend>Title</legend>
      <input type="radio" name="radio" id="radio">
      <label for="radio">Click me</label>
    </fieldset>
  </form>

</div>

This can be extended further by using external libraries that build on the idea of modifying the "outline" as opposed to removing it entirely like Materialize

You can end up with something that is not ugly and works with very little effort

body {
  background: #444
}

.wrapper {
  padding: 2em;
  width: 400px;
  max-width: 100%;
  text-align: center;
  margin: 2em auto;
  border: 1px solid #555
}

button,
.wrapper {
  border-radius: 3px;
}

button {
  padding: .25em 1em;
}

input,
label {
  color: white !important;
}

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/materialize/0.100.1/css/materialize.min.css" />

<div class="wrapper">
  <form>
    <input type="text" placeholder="Enter Username" name="uname" required>
    <input type="password" placeholder="Enter Password" name="psw" required>
    <button type="submit">Login</button>
  </form>
</div>

Answer 3

In Bootstrap 4 to remove border outline you can use shadow-none, it will remove focus outline.

            <div class="form-group">
                <label for="exampleInputEmail1">Name</label>
                <input type="text" class="form-control form-control shadow-none" 
                id="exampleInputEmail1"aria-describedby="emailHelp">
            </div>

Answer 4

This was confusing me for some time until I discovered the line was neither a border or an outline, it was a shadow. So to remove it I had to use this:

input:focus, input.form-control:focus {

    outline:none !important;
    outline-width: 0 !important;
    box-shadow: none;
    -moz-box-shadow: none;
    -webkit-box-shadow: none;
}

Answer 5

Removing all focus styles is bad for accessibility and keyboard users in general. But outlines are ugly and providing a custom focussed style for every single interactive element can be a real pain.

So the best compromise I've found is to show the outline styles only when we detect that the user is using the keyboard to navigate. Basically, if the user presses TAB, we show the outlines and if he uses the mouse, we hide them.

It does not stop you from writing custom focus styles for some elements but at least it provides a good default.

This is how I do it:

// detect keyboard users

const keyboardUserCssClass = "keyboardUser";

function setIsKeyboardUser(isKeyboard) {
  const { body } = document;
  if (isKeyboard) {
   body.classList.contains(keyboardUserCssClass) || body.classList.add(keyboardUserCssClass);
  } else {
   body.classList.remove(keyboardUserCssClass);
  }
}

// This is a quick hack to activate focus styles only when the user is
// navigating with TAB key. This is the best compromise we've found to
// keep nice design without sacrifying accessibility.
document.addEventListener("keydown", e => {
  if (e.key === "Tab") {
   setIsKeyboardUser(true);
  }
});
document.addEventListener("click", e => {
  // Pressing ENTER on buttons triggers a click event with coordinates to 0
  setIsKeyboardUser(!e.screenX && !e.screenY);
});

document.addEventListener("mousedown", e => {
  setIsKeyboardUser(false);
});

body:not(.keyboardUser) *:focus {
  outline: none;
}

<p>By default, you'll see no outline. But press TAB key and you'll see focussed element</p>
<button>This is a button</button>
<a href="#">This is anchor link</a>
<input type="checkbox" />
<textarea>textarea</textarea>
<select/>

Answer 6

You can try this also

input[type="text"] {
outline-style: none;
}

or

.classname input{
outline-style: none;
}