Last Updated: February 25, 2016
·
1.806K
· gustavoguichard

Using css :target selector as a fallback do JS

Lets say we have a hidden search field in our website and it will show up when the user clicks on a magnifier. The HTML is as it follows:

<aside id="search-box">
    <div id="search-container">
      <form id="searchform" action="#" method="get">
        <input type="text" placeholder="Search" name="search">
      </form>
    </div>
    <a id="toggle-search" href="#search-container">Search</a>
  </aside>

Ok, the javascript ( coffeescript with jQuery actually) to make it work isn't magical and there's nothing new here:

$ ->
  $searchBox = $('#search-box')
  $searchContainer = $('#search-container', $searchBox)
  $('#toggle-search', $searchBox).on "click", (e) ->
    $searchContainer.slideToggle("fast")
    $('input[type=text]', $searchContainer).focus()
    false

Great! Now follows my tip

We want to provide a fallback for the users with disabled javascript, in a scenario where nobody uses old browsers (I mean, we can use CSS3 selectors with no worries) =)

#search-container
  display: none

  &:target
    display: block

Ok, now it works very similar as with enabled javascript!

Click here if you want to see a demo (don't forget to disable your javascript).

Conclusion

The css :target selector can be used in many ways, but I have to admit I didn't see its real value till I started to use it as fallback to JS.

Cheers!