CSS property compatibility table for form controls

The following compatibility tables try to summarize the state of CSS support for HTML forms. Due to the complexity of CSS and HTML forms, these tables can't be considered a perfect reference. However, they will give you good insight into what can and can't be done, which will help you learn how to do things.

How to read the tables

Values

For each property, there are four possible values:

Yes
There's reasonably consistent support for the property across browsers. You may still face strange side effects in certain edge cases.
Partial
While the property works, you may frequently face strange side effects or inconsistencies. You should probably avoid these properties unless you master those side effects first.
No
The property simply doesn't work or is so inconsistent that it's not reliable.
n.a.
The property has no meaning for this type of widget.

Rendering

For each property there are two possible renderings:

N (Normal)
Indicates that the property is applied as it is
T (Tweaked)
Indicates that the property is applied with the extra rule below:
* {
  /* Turn off the native look and feel */
  -webkit-appearance: none;
  appearance: none;

/* for Internet Explorer */
  background: none;
}

Compatibility tables

Global behaviors

Some behaviors are common to many browsers at a global level:

border, background, border-radius, height
Using one of these properties can partially or fully turn off the native look & feel of widgets on some browsers. Be careful when you use them.
line-height
This property is supported inconsistently across browsers and you should avoid it.
text-decoration
This property is not supported by Opera on form widgets.
text-overflow
Opera, Safari, and IE9 do not support this property on form widgets.
text-shadow
Opera does not support text-shadow on form widgets and IE9 does not support it at all.

Text fields

See the text, search, and password input types.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Partial[1][2] Yes
  1. WebKit browsers (mostly on Mac OSX and iOS) use the native look & feel for the search fields. Therefore, it's required to use -webkit-appearance:none to be able to apply this property to search fields.
  2. On Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 does not apply the border unless background:none is applied.
border Partial[1][2] Yes
  1. WebKit browsers (mostly on Mac OSX and iOS) use the native look & feel for the search fields. Therefore, it's required to use -webkit-appearance:none to be able to apply this property to search fields.
  2. On Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 does not apply the border unless background:none is applied.
margin Yes Yes
padding Partial[1][2] Yes
  1. WebKit browsers (mostly on Mac OSX and iOS) use the native look & feel for the search fields. Therefore, it's required to use -webkit-appearance:none to be able to apply this property to search fields.
  2. On Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 does not apply the border unless background:none is applied.
Text and font
color[1] Yes Yes
  1. If the border-color property is not set, some WebKit based browsers will apply the color property to the border as well as the font on <textarea>s.
font Yes Yes See the note about line-height
letter-spacing Yes Yes
text-align Yes Yes
text-decoration Partial Partial See the note about Opera
text-indent Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. IE9 supports this property only on <textarea>s, whereas Opera only supports it on single line text fields.
text-overflow Partial Partial
text-shadow Partial Partial
text-transform Yes Yes
Border and background
background Partial[1] Yes
  1. WebKit browsers (mostly on Mac OSX and iOS) use the native look & feel for the search fields. Therefore, it's required to use -webkit-appearance:none to be able to apply this property to search fields. On Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 does not apply the border unless background:none is applied.
border-radius Partial[1][2] Yes
  1. WebKit browsers (mostly on Mac OSX and iOS) use the native look & feel for the search fields. Therefore, it's required to use -webkit-appearance:none to be able to apply this property to search fields. On Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 does not apply the border unless background:none is applied.
  2. On Opera the border-radius property is applied only if an explicit border is set.
box-shadow No Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.

Buttons

See the button, submit, and reset input types and the <button> element.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Partial[1] Yes
  1. This property is not applied on WebKit based browsers on Mac OSX or iOS.
border Partial Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Partial[1] Yes
  1. This property is not applied on WebKit based browsers on Mac OSX or iOS.
Text and font
color Yes Yes
font Yes Yes See the note about line-height.
letter-spacing Yes Yes
text-align No No
text-decoration Partial Yes
text-indent Yes Yes
text-overflow No No
text-shadow Partial Partial
text-transform Yes Yes
Border and background
background Yes Yes
border-radius Yes[1] Yes[1]
  1. On Opera the border-radius property is applied only if an explicit border is set.
box-shadow No Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.

Number

See the number input type. There is no standard way to change the style of spinners used to change the value of the field, with the spinners on Safari being outside the field.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. On Opera, the spinners are zoomed in, which can hide the content of the field.
border Yes Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. On Opera, the spinners are zoomed in, which can hide the content of the field.
Text and font
color Yes Yes
font Yes Yes See the note about line-height.
letter-spacing Yes Yes
text-align Yes Yes
text-decoration Partial Partial
text-indent Yes Yes
text-overflow No No
text-shadow Partial Partial
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background No No

Supported but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
border-radius No No
box-shadow No No

Check boxes and radio buttons

See the checkbox and radio input types.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width No[1] No[1]
  1. Some browsers add extra margins and others stretch the widget.
height No[1] No[1]
  1. Some browsers add extra margins and others stretch the widget.
border No No
margin Yes Yes
padding No No
Text and font
color N.A. N.A.
font N.A. N.A.
letter-spacing N.A. N.A.
text-align N.A. N.A.
text-decoration N.A. N.A.
text-indent N.A. N.A.
text-overflow N.A. N.A.
text-shadow N.A. N.A.
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background No No
border-radius No No
box-shadow No No

Select boxes (single line)

See the <select>, <optgroup> and <option> elements.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. This property is okay on the <select> element, but it cannot be the case on the <option> or <optgroup> elements.
height No Yes
border Partial Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding No[1] Partial[2]
  1. The property is applied, but in an inconsistent way between browsers on Mac OSX.
  2. The property is well applied on the <select> element, but is inconsistently handled on <option> and <optgroup> elements.
Text and font
color Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. On Mac OSX, WebKit based browsers do not support this property on native widgets and they, along with Opera, do not support it at all on <option> and <optgroup> elements.
font Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. On Mac OSX, WebKit based browsers do not support this property on native widgets and they, along with Opera, do not support it at all on <option> and <optgroup> elements.
letter-spacing Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property on <select>, <option>, and <optgroup> elements; WebKit based browsers on Mac OSX do not support this property on <option> and <optgroup> elements.
text-align No[1] No[1]
  1. IE9 on Windows 7 and WebKit based browsers on Mac OSX do not support this property on this widget.
text-decoration Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Only Firefox provides full support for this property. Opera does not support this property at all and other browsers only support it on the <select> element.
text-indent Partial[1][2] Partial[1][2]
  1. Most of the browsers only support this property on the <select> element.
  2. IE9 does not support this property.
text-overflow No No
text-shadow Partial[1][2] Partial[1][2]
  1. Most of the browsers only support this property on the <select> element.
  2. IE9 does not support this property.
text-transform Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Most of the browsers only support this property on the <select> element.
Border and background
background Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Most of the browsers only support this property on the <select> element.
border-radius Partial[1] Partial[1]
box-shadow No Partial[1]

Note Firefox does not provide any way to change the down arrow on the <select> element.

Select boxes (multiline)

See the <select>, <optgroup> and <option> elements and the size attribute.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Yes Yes
border Yes Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Opera does not support padding-top and padding-bottom on the <select> element.
Text and font
color Yes Yes
font Yes Yes See the note about line-height.
letter-spacing Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property on <select>, <option>, and <optgroup> elements; WebKit based browsers on Mac OSX do not support this property on <option> and <optgroup> elements.
text-align No[1] No[1]
  1. IE9 on Windows 7 and WebKit based browser on Mac OSX do not support this property on this widget.
text-decoration No[1] No[1]
  1. Only supported by Firefox and IE9+.
text-indent No No
text-overflow No No
text-shadow No No
text-transform Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Most of the browsers only support this property on the <select> element.
Border and background
background Yes Yes
border-radius Yes[1] Yes[1]
  1. On Opera the border-radius property is applied only if an explicit border is set.
box-shadow No Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.

Datalist

See the <datalist> and <input> elements and the list attribute.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width No No
height No No
border No No
margin No No
padding No No
Text and font
color No No
font No No
letter-spacing No No
text-align No No
text-decoration No No
text-indent No No
text-overflow No No
text-shadow No No
text-transform No No
Border and background
background No No
border-radius No No
box-shadow No No

File picker

See the file input type.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width No No
height No No
border No No
margin Yes Yes
padding No No
Text and font
color Yes Yes
font No[1] No[1]
  1. Supported, but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
letter-spacing Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Many browsers apply this property to the select button.
text-align No No
text-decoration No No
text-indent Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. It acts more or less like an extra left margin outside the widget.
text-overflow No No
text-shadow No No
text-transform No No
Border and background
background No[1] No[1]
  1. Supported, but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
border-radius No No
box-shadow No Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.

Date pickers

See the date and time input types. Many properties are supported, but there is too much inconstency between browsers to be reliable.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width No No
height No No
border No No
margin Yes Yes
padding No No
Text and font
color No No
font No No
letter-spacing No No
text-align No No
text-decoration No No
text-indent No No
text-overflow No No
text-shadow No No
text-transform No No
Border and background
background No No
border-radius No No
box-shadow No No

Color pickers

See the color input type:

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height No[1] Yes
  1. Opera handles this like a select widget with the same restriction.
border Yes Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding No[1] Yes
  1. Opera handles this like a select widget with the same restriction.
Text and font
color N.A. N.A.
font N.A. N.A.
letter-spacing N.A. N.A.
text-align N.A. N.A.
text-decoration N.A. N.A.
text-indent N.A. N.A.
text-overflow N.A. N.A.
text-shadow N.A. N.A.
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background No[1] No[1]
  1. Supported, but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
border-radius No[1] No[1]
box-shadow No[1] No[1]

Meters and progress

See the <meter> and <progress> elements:

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Yes Yes
border Partial Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Yes Partial[1]
  1. Chrome hides the <progress> and <meter> element when the padding property is applied on a tweaked element.
Text and font
color N.A. N.A.
font N.A. N.A.
letter-spacing N.A. N.A.
text-align N.A. N.A.
text-decoration N.A. N.A.
text-indent N.A. N.A.
text-overflow N.A. N.A.
text-shadow N.A. N.A.
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background No[1] No[1]
  1. Supported, but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
border-radius No[1] No[1]
box-shadow No[1] No[1]

Range

See the range input type. There is no standard way to change the style of the range grip and Opera has no way to tweak the default rendering of the range widget.

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. Chrome and Opera add some extra space around the widget, whereas Opera on Windows 7 stretches the range grip.
border No Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Partial[1] Yes
  1. The padding is applied, but has no visual effect.
Text and font
color N.A. N.A.
font N.A. N.A.
letter-spacing N.A. N.A.
text-align N.A. N.A.
text-decoration N.A. N.A.
text-indent N.A. N.A.
text-overflow N.A. N.A.
text-shadow N.A. N.A.
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background No[1] No[1]
  1. Supported, but there is too much inconsistency between browsers to be reliable.
border-radius No[1] No[1]
box-shadow No[1] No[1]

Image buttons

See the image input type:

Property N T Note
CSS box model
width Yes Yes
height Yes Yes
border Yes Yes
margin Yes Yes
padding Yes Yes
Text and font
color N.A. N.A.
font N.A. N.A.
letter-spacing N.A. N.A.
text-align N.A. N.A.
text-decoration N.A. N.A.
text-indent N.A. N.A.
text-overflow N.A. N.A.
text-shadow N.A. N.A.
text-transform N.A. N.A.
Border and background
background Yes Yes
border-radius Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.
box-shadow Partial[1] Partial[1]
  1. IE9 does not support this property.

See also

Learning path

Advanced Topics