488
votes

I am just wondering how to use the new HTML5 input attribute "required" in the right way on radio buttons. Does every radio button field need the attribute like below or is it sufficient if only one field gets it?

<input type="radio" name="color" value="black" required="required" />
<input type="radio" name="color" value="white" required="required" />
4

4 Answers

840
votes

TL;DR: Set the required attribute for at least one input of the radio group.


Setting required for all inputs is more clear, but not necessary (unless dynamically generating radio-buttons).

To group radio buttons they must all have the same name value. This allows only one to be selected at a time and applies required to the whole group.

<form>
  Select Gender:<br>

  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="male" required>
    Male
  </label><br>

  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="female">
    Female
  </label><br>

  <label>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="other">
    Other
  </label><br>

  <input type="submit">
</form>

Also take note of:

To avoid confusion as to whether a radio button group is required or not, authors are encouraged to specify the attribute on all the radio buttons in a group. Indeed, in general, authors are encouraged to avoid having radio button groups that do not have any initially checked controls in the first place, as this is a state that the user cannot return to, and is therefore generally considered a poor user interface.

Source

5
votes

You can use this code snippet ...

<html>
  <body>
     <form>
          <input type="radio" name="color" value="black" required />
          <input type="radio" name="color" value="white" />
          <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
    </form>
  </body>
</html>

Specify "required" keyword in one of the select statements. If you want to change the default way of its appearance. You can follow these steps. This is just for extra info if you have any intention to modify the default behavior.

Add the following into you .css file.

/* style all elements with a required attribute */
:required {
  background: red;
}

For more information you can refer following URL.

https://css-tricks.com/almanac/selectors/r/required/

3
votes

Here is a very basic but modern implementation of required radio buttons with native HTML5 validation:

fieldset { 
  display: block;
  margin-left: 0;
  margin-right: 0;
  padding-top: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
  padding-left: 0;
  padding-right: 0;
  border: none;
}
body {font-size: 15px; font-family: serif;}
input {
  background: transparent;
  border-radius: 0px;
  border: 1px solid black;
  padding: 5px;
  box-shadow: none!important;
  font-size: 15px; font-family: serif;
}
input[type="submit"] {padding: 5px 10px; margin-top: 5px;}
label {display: block; padding: 0 0 5px 0;}
form > div {margin-bottom: 1em; overflow: auto;}
.hidden {
  opacity: 0; 
  position: absolute; 
  pointer-events: none;
}
.checkboxes label {display: block; float: left;}
input[type="radio"] + span {
  display: block;
  border: 1px solid black;
  border-left: 0;
  padding: 5px 10px;
}
label:first-child input[type="radio"] + span {border-left: 1px solid black;}
input[type="radio"]:checked + span {background: silver;}
<form>
  <div>
    <label for="name">Name (optional)</label>
    <input id="name" type="text" name="name">
  </div>
  <fieldset>
  <legend>Gender</legend>
  <div class="checkboxes">
    <label for="male"><input id="male" type="radio" name="gender" value="male" class="hidden" required="required"><span>Male</span></label>
    <label for="female"><input id="female" type="radio" name="gender" value="female" class="hidden" required="required"><span>Female </span></label>
    <label for="other"><input id="other" type="radio" name="gender" value="other" class="hidden" required="required"><span>Other</span></label>
  </div>
  </fieldset>
  <input type="submit" value="Send" />
</form>

Although I am a big fan of the minimalistic approach of using native HTML5 validation, you might want to replace it with Javascript validation on the long run. Javascript validation gives you far more control over the validation process and it allows you to set real classes (instead of pseudo classes) to improve the styling of the (in)valid fields. This native HTML5 validation can be your fall-back in case of broken (or lack of) Javascript. You can find an example of that here, along with some other suggestions on how to make Better forms, inspired by Andrew Cole.

3
votes

I had to use required="required" along with the same name and type, and then validation worked fine.

<input type="radio" name="user-radio"  id="" value="User" required="required" />

<input type="radio" name="user-radio" id="" value="Admin" />

<input type="radio" name="user-radio" id="" value="Guest" />