Bullframe Forms

Forms

Bullframe styles form elements directly. A plain <label> plus <input> is already sized, spaced and focus-ringed on every build, classless included. Classes appear only for state (.bf-invalid, .bf-disabled) and layout.

When to use

Any task that adds or edits a form, a single control, or validation feedback.

Inputs to gather

The field list with types and required flags, the submit label, the form action and method, whether the layout is stacked or two-column, and whether errors are rendered server-side or client-side.

Rules

1. Every control has a <label for> whose value is the control's id. A placeholder is not a label, and aria-label is a fallback for controls with no visible text, not the default.
2. Pick the narrowest input type: email, tel, url, number, date, search. It changes the mobile keyboard and gives free validation.
3. Set autocomplete with the standard token (name, email, street-address, cc-number, current-password, new-password). Checkout and sign-in forms are the main reason users abandon a page.
4. Mark a required field with the required attribute. Do not use a class for it.
5. Group related controls, especially radios and checkboxes, in <fieldset> with a <legend>.
6. Hints go in an element referenced by aria-describedby, not in the label.
7. Error state is .bf-invalid on the control plus a message referenced by aria-describedby. Colour alone never carries the meaning.
8. A disabled control gets the disabled attribute; .bf-disabled is for styling elements that cannot take the attribute, such as a link styled as a button.
9. Two-column layouts use .bf-row with .bf-col-*. The form itself needs no wrapper class.
10. The submit control is <button type="submit" class="bf-btn bf-btn--primary">.

Recipe

1. Choose the build. A form-only page on a classless build works and needs no classes; any two-column layout needs the class-based build.
2. Emit the page scaffold from bullframe-core.
3. Write the form: action, method, then label and control pairs in source order.
4. Add fieldset/legend around each radio or checkbox group.
5. Add the submit button last, inside the form.
6. Check every control has a label, a type and, where applicable, an autocomplete token.

Example

examples/contact-form.html is a complete two-column contact page: labelled controls, a select with an empty first option, a described textarea, a radio fieldset, and an aside composed from tokens.

Expected output

Markup where every control is labelled and typed, which passes html-validate with the input-missing-label rule set to error. No form framework, no validation library, no custom control CSS.

Failure modes

• A placeholder standing in for a label.
• <div> or <a> used as a submit control.
• outline: none or a custom focus style that drops contrast.
• Inventing .bf-form-group, .bf-input, .bf-label or .bf-form-control. None exist; the element selectors do the work.
• Custom checkbox and radio CSS when src/css/utilities/form-custom-radio-checkbox.css already ships it on the class-based builds.
• Missing autocomplete on address, payment and password fields.
• A select whose first option is a real value, so the user cannot express "not chosen".
• Client-side validation messages that replace, rather than supplement, the required attribute.

Do not

• Do not remove or restyle the focus ring; tune --bf-focus-ring-color, --bf-focus-ring-width, --bf-focus-ring-offset.
• Do not use .bf-invalid as a permanent style; it is a state.
• Do not nest a form inside another form.
• Do not add JavaScript unless the task explicitly asks for client-side behaviour.

Canonical docs

• Forms: https://bullframecss.marcopontili.com/forms.md
• Form patterns: https://bullframecss.marcopontili.com/components/forms.md
• Accessibility: https://bullframecss.marcopontili.com/accessibility.md
• Live examples: https://bullframecss.marcopontili.com/examples