Extra space under textarea, differs along browsers

html

css-box-model

responsive-design

best-practices

byNikita Barsukov·Oct 3, 2024

To bridge the gap under the textarea across browsers, set vertical-align to top and specify a fixed height.

textarea { 
  vertical-align: top; /* Aligns better than a straight A student */
  height: 100px;       /* Consistent like your morning coffee */
  overflow: hidden;    /* Playing hide and seek with exceeding content */
  margin: 0;           /* More space? Ain't nobody got time for that */
  padding: 0;          /* Padding? More like badding, bye-bye */
  display: block;      /* Behave! */
}

With these styles, you won't have to deal with those extra space blues.

The need for solution

Grasping the Box Model concept

Different renders engines in web browsers may slightly vary how elements, like the textarea, are displayed. An understanding of the CSS box model—how it calculates the total dimensions of elements can help to tackle these inconsistencies.

Addressing default browser styles

Applying reset styles or Normalize.css can level rendering inconsistencies by setting margin and padding universally to 0. This technique keeps unexpected spacing in check, providing a reliable cross-browsing experience.

Flexbox: Your alignment buddy

For moments when vertical-align doesn't cut it, explore the power of Flexbox:

.parent {
  display: flex;      /* Like the Avengers, but for design */
  align-items: flex-start; /* First in line. Always */
}

Flexbox can force more consistency by ensuring top alignment, regardless of browser defaults.

A deep dive into solutions

Analyzing spacing discrepancies

Using browser dev tools to review visual differences and unmask rendering peculiarities can be helpful. Note to keep an eye on how the parent <div>'s border could create an illusion of a definite space.

Documenting visual differences

Screenshots are useful in capturing browser-specific discrepancies, helping to keep identifying and debugging these issues.

Ways to tackle text-area spacing

Normalizing base styles

Implementing Normalize.css or a reset CSS creates uniformity across all elements, including textarea.

Using border-box for box-sizing

The border-box value for the box-sizing property includes padding and borders in the dimensions:

textarea {
  box-sizing: border-box; /* Border control for dimensions */
}

Watch the line-height

line-height and font-size adjustments can also cause spacing changes, ensure to use line-height: normal; and of course, choose appropriate value for font size.

Vendor-specific tweaks

Att ain some browser-specific consistency by targeting vendor-specific pseudo-elements:

textarea::-webkit-scrollbar {
  display: none; /* Like John Cena, you can't see me */
}

Remember that nurturing a rich battery of tactics will help ensure the textarea always looks sharp across the specter of browsers.

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