Forms
Examples and usage guidelines for form control styles, layout options, and custom components for creating a wide variety of forms.
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Overview
Boosted’s form controls expand on our Rebooted form styles with classes. Use these classes to opt into their customized displays for a more consistent rendering across browsers and devices.
Be sure to use an appropriate type attribute on all inputs (e.g., email for email
address or number for numerical information) to take advantage of newer input controls like email
verification, number selection, and more.
Here’s a quick example to demonstrate Boosted’s form styles. Keep reading for documentation on required classes, form layout, and more.
<form>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="exampleInputEmail1" class="form-label">Email address</label>
<input type="email" class="form-control" id="exampleInputEmail1" aria-describedby="emailHelp">
<div id="emailHelp" class="form-text">We'll never share your email with anyone else.</div>
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="exampleInputPassword1" class="form-label">Password</label>
<input type="password" class="form-control" id="exampleInputPassword1">
</div>
<div class="mb-3 form-check">
<input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" id="exampleCheck1">
<label class="form-check-label" for="exampleCheck1">Check me out</label>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</form>Form text
Block-level or inline-level form text can be created using .form-text.
Associating form text with form controls
Form text should be explicitly associated with the form control it relates to using the
aria-describedby attribute. This will ensure that assistive technologies—such as screen
readers—will announce this form text when the user focuses or enters the control.
Form text below inputs can be styled with .form-text. If a block-level element will be used, a
top margin is added for easy spacing from the inputs above.
<label for="inputPassword5" class="form-label">Password</label>
<input type="password" id="inputPassword5" class="form-control" aria-describedby="passwordHelpBlock">
<div id="passwordHelpBlock" class="form-text">
Your password must be 8-20 characters long, contain letters and numbers, and must not contain spaces, special characters, or emoji.
</div>Inline text can use any typical inline HTML element (be it a <span>,
<small>, or something else) with nothing more than the .form-text class.
<div class="row g-3 align-items-center">
<div class="col-auto">
<label for="inputPassword6" class="col-form-label">Password</label>
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<input type="password" id="inputPassword6" class="form-control" aria-describedby="passwordHelpInline">
</div>
<div class="col-auto">
<span id="passwordHelpInline" class="form-text">
Must be 8-20 characters long.
</span>
</div>
</div>Disabled forms
Add the disabled boolean attribute on an input to prevent user interactions and make it appear
lighter.
<input class="form-control" id="disabledInput" type="text" placeholder="Disabled input here..." disabled>
Add the disabled attribute to a <fieldset> to disable all the controls
within. Browsers treat all native form controls (<input>, <select>, and
<button> elements) inside a <fieldset disabled> as disabled, preventing
both keyboard and mouse interactions on them.
However, if your form also includes custom button-like elements such as
<a class="btn btn-*">...</a>, these will only be given a style of
pointer-events: none, meaning they are still focusable and operable using the keyboard. In this
case, you must manually modify these controls by adding tabindex="-1" to prevent them
from receiving focus and aria-disabled="disabled" to signal their state to assistive
technologies.
Use the .is-disabled class on label to make it appear lighter too.
<form>
<fieldset disabled>
<legend>Disabled fieldset example</legend>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="disabledTextInput" class="form-label is-disabled">Disabled input</label>
<input type="text" id="disabledTextInput" class="form-control" placeholder="Disabled input">
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="disabledSelect" class="form-label is-disabled">Disabled select menu</label>
<select id="disabledSelect" class="form-select">
<option>Disabled select</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="disabledFieldsetCheck" disabled>
<label class="form-check-label" for="disabledFieldsetCheck">
Can't check this
</label>
</div>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</fieldset>
</form>Required field
Use the .is-required class on label to add a * symbol after it.
<form>
<fieldset>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="requiredTextInput" class="form-label is-required">Required input</label>
<input type="text" id="requiredTextInput" class="form-control" placeholder="Required input" required>
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<label for="requiredSelect" class="form-label is-required">Required select menu</label>
<select id="requiredSelect" class="form-select" required>
<option value="">Required select</option>
</select>
</div>
<div class="mb-3">
<div class="form-check">
<input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="requiredFieldsetCheck" required>
<label class="form-check-label" for="requiredFieldsetCheck">Must check this</label>
</div>
</div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Submit</button>
</fieldset>
</form>Accessibility
Ensure that all form controls have an appropriate accessible name so that their purpose can be conveyed to
users of assistive technologies. The simplest way to achieve this is to use a <label>
element, or—in the case of buttons—to include sufficiently descriptive text as part of the
<button>...</button> content.
For situations where it’s not possible to include a visible <label> or appropriate
text content, there are alternative ways of still providing an accessible name, such as:
<label>elements hidden using the.visually-hiddenclass- Pointing to an existing element that can act as a label using
aria-labelledby - Providing a
titleattribute - Explicitly setting the accessible name on an element using
aria-label
If none of these are present, assistive technologies may resort to using the placeholder
attribute as a fallback for the accessible name on <input> and
<textarea> elements. The examples in this section provide a few suggested, case-specific
approaches.
While using visually hidden content (.visually-hidden, aria-label, and even
placeholder content, which disappears once a form field has content) will benefit assistive
technology users, a lack of visible label text may still be problematic for certain users. Some form of
visible label is generally the best approach, both for accessibility and usability.
Sass
Many form variables are set at a general level to be re-used and extended by individual form components.
You’ll see these most often as $btn-input-* and $input-* variables.
Variables
$btn-input-* variables are shared global variables between our buttons and our form components. You’ll find these frequently
reassigned as values to other component-specific variables.
$input-btn-padding-y: .5rem;
$input-btn-padding-x: 1.125rem;
$input-btn-font-family: inherit;
$input-btn-font-size: $font-size-base;
$input-btn-line-height: 1.25;
$input-btn-focus-width: .125rem;
// Boosted mod: no need for a blur variable
$input-btn-focus-box-shadow: null;
$input-btn-padding-y-sm: $spacer * .25;
$input-btn-padding-x-sm: $spacer * .5;
$input-btn-font-size-sm: $font-size-sm;
$input-btn-padding-y-lg: .8125rem;
$input-btn-padding-x-lg: $spacer;
$input-btn-font-size-lg: $font-size-lg;
$input-btn-border-width: $border-width;