appearance

The appearance property can be applied to all elements and pseudo-elements, but the effect of the specified value, if any, depends on the element to which it is applied.

none

Gives the widget a primitive appearance, making it stylable via CSS, while maintaining the widget's native functionality. This value does not affect non-widgets.

auto

Sets interactive widgets to render with their OS-native appearance. Behaves as none on elements with no OS-native styling.

base-select

Only relevant to the <select> element and ::picker(select) pseudo-element, allowing them to be styled.

<compat-special>

Has an effect similar toauto on certain elements.

textfield

Causes the appearance of certain <input> types to match the appearance of the text type.

menulist-button

When set on the <select> element, the drop-down picker's style matches that of its default state.

<compat-auto>

Included for backwards compatibility; possible values include button, checkbox, listbox, menulist, meter, progress-bar, push-button, radio, searchfield, slider-horizontal, square-button, and textarea. The values all behave as auto: use auto instead.

Non-standard values

Some non-standard values are also supported in some browsers:

slider-vertical

Makes the slider vertical when applied to <input type="range"> elements. To create a vertical slider you should instead set the writing-mode to vertical-lr and the direction to rtl.

-apple-pay-button

Displays the Apple Pay logo when set on a <button>, <a>, or <input> element of type button or reset.

The appearance property enables displaying elements in their OS-native style based on the operating system's theme, as well as the removal of any platform-native styling with the none value. Setting appearance: none, or otherwise changing the appearance of UI widgets, does not change the element's functionality.

While most elements in a document can be fully styled by CSS, UI controls (widgets) are typically rendered by the browser using the operating system's native UI styles. This native appearance differs between operating systems and browsers. In this default state, widgets have limited, if any, features that can be styled with CSS. Which elements have this native UI appearance is defined in HTML.

The appearance property provides some control over the appearance of HTML widgets that, by default, look like native operating system controls. Most notably, the none value suppresses some of a widget's native appearance. This results in a primitive look that can be styled via CSS while still maintaining functionality and supporting native user interactions.

Some widgets disappear completely when set to appearance: none. The hidden controls are still interactive, however. For example, clicking on a <label> associated with an appearance: none checkbox will toggle the checkbox's checked state.

Because none can cause a widget to be hidden, the base value is being added to provide widgets with a base appearance. When supported, the base value will ensure widgets maintain their native appearance while enabling CSS to be used to change a widget's styles that are not changeable by default. Unlike none, which can make radio buttons and checkboxes disappear, base gives the widget a primitive appearance with default native styles that are usable and interoperable, as well as enabling a good degree of customization via CSS. While this base value is not yet supported, the many <compat-auto> values provide similar functionality but are type-specific and not global.

The base-select value, which is relevant only to the <select> element and ::picker(select) pseudo-element, enables styling <select> elements and the select picker (which contains the <option> elements). The picker is rendered in the top layer, similar to a popover. When base-select is set, the picker can be positioned relative to the select (or other elements) using CSS anchor positioning features. In addition, the base-select value causes the <select> not to render outside the browser pane or to trigger built-in mobile operating system components. It is also no longer sized based on the width of the widest <option>.

Before standardization, the prefixed -moz-appearance and -webkit-appearance properties allowed elements to be shown as widgets such as buttons or checkboxes. The following non-standard values may be encountered in legacy style sheets, most commonly as values of shadow DOM component prefixed pseudo-elements.

Authors are encouraged to use only standard keywords.

appearance = 
  none              |
  auto              |
  base              |
  base-select       |
  <compat-auto>     |
  <compat-special>  |
  base              

<compat-auto> = 
  searchfield   |
  textarea      |
  checkbox      |
  radio         |
  menulist      |
  listbox       |
  meter         |
  progress-bar  |
  button        

<compat-special> = 
  textfield        |
  menulist-button  

This example demonstrates basic usage of the appearance property, altering the appearance of an <input> element in some browsers.

HTML

We include two number form controls along with their labels.

<p>
  <label>Enter a number: <input type="number" min="0" max="10" /></label>
</p>
<p>
  <label
    >Enter a number: <input type="number" min="0" max="10" class="text"
  /></label>
</p>

CSS

We set the element with the class of text to look like a text field.

.text {
  appearance: textfield;
}

Results

Depending on the browser, the spinner may be visually removed when the control is set to look like a text field. The appearance property has no effect on the functionality: for example, while there may no longer be a spinner to click on,the up and down cursor keys will still increment and decrement the value.

The following example shows how to remove the default styling from a checkbox, a radio button, and a <select> element, and apply custom styling.

HTML

We include pairs of checkboxes, radio buttons, and <select> elements, along with their associated labels:

<label><input type="checkbox" /> Default unchecked </label>
<label><input type="checkbox" checked /> Default checked </label>

<hr />

<label><input type="radio" name="radio" /> Default unchecked </label>
<label><input type="radio" name="radio" checked /> Default checked </label>

<hr />

<label
  >Unstyled select
  <select>
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
  </select>
</label>

<label
  >Styled select
  <select class="none">
    <option>Option 1</option>
    <option>Option 2</option>
  </select>
</label>

CSS

label {
  display: block;
  margin: 0.5em 0;
}

We apply styles to both <input> elements of type checkbox; these styles create a red square if the element is styleable. We set appearance: none on the :checked UI state for all inputs (checkbox and radio), as well as to elements with the .none class. This removes all the style of the radio button and checkbox, other than the margins, and allows any set styles to be applied. There are no alternative styles provided for the radio buttons or <select> elements for when none is set.

[type="checkbox"] {
  width: 1em;
  height: 1em;
  display: inline-block;
  background: red;
}
input:checked,
.none {
  appearance: none;
}

Result

Setting appearance: none enables UI elements to be styled, but it also runs the risk of hiding the widget. The unchecked checkbox, with its appearance defaulting to auto, looks like a checkbox. Setting appearance: none in the :checked state enables it to be styled.

Like the unchecked checkbox, the unchecked radio button looks like the native UI widget, because it is. When in the checked state, with appearance: none applied, the radio button disappears; its functionality is retained, and only its margins affect page rendering.

We can use the appearance property to opt-in to custom select functionality, enabling styling the <select> element and its picker, which represents the part of the form control that pops out of the page.

HTML

We include three <select> elements, with the same multiple <option> children. As with every <select>, we also include associated <label> elements. The third option has more text to demonstrate the effect of base-select on the width of the <select>:

<label for="ice-cream1"
  >Default flavor:
  <select id="ice-cream1">
    <option>Asparagus</option>
    <option>Dulce de leche</option>
    <option>Pistachio, rum raisin, and coffee</option>
  </select>
</label>
<label for="ice-cream2"
  >Base select flavor:
  <select id="ice-cream2" class="baseSelect">
    <option>Asparagus</option>
    <option>Dulce de leche</option>
    <option>Pistachio, rum raisin, and coffee</option>
  </select>
</label>
<label for="ice-cream3"
  >Menulist button flavor:
  <select id="ice-cream3" class="menulistButton">
    <option>Asparagus</option>
    <option>Dulce de leche</option>
    <option>Pistachio, rum raisin, and coffee</option>
  </select>
</label>

CSS

We select the pickers of all the <select> elements using the ::picker() pseudo-element with the select parameter. We set the appearance value of all the pickers and one <select> element to base-select. We set the last <select> to menulist-button. The first <select> defaults to the auto state:

.baseSelect,
::picker(select) {
  appearance: base-select;
}
.menulistButton {
  appearance: menulist-button;
}

label {
  display: block;
}

We set values for the <select> and pickers' background-color and border properties to demonstrate the effects of the appearance values:

select {
  border: 1px solid red;
  background-color: orange;
}

::picker(select) {
  background-color: yellow;
  border: none;
}

Results

While the background-color and border styles are defined on all the <select> elements and their pickers, the ::picker(select) styles only effect the picker where both the select and the picker have the appearance property set to base-select. The first and third selects look the same because menulist-button is a compatibility keyword.

Notice that, by default, the inline-size of the <select> is generally the inline-size of the <option> with the most text, and that the drop-down picker appears over the top of the rendered page when opened, making it not constrained by the surrounding page and therefore fully visible. These statements are no longer true when base-select is set.

• prefers-color-scheme