How To Disable Textarea Resizing?

Ethan D. -

Problem: Unwanted Textarea Resizing

Textareas in HTML forms often have a default resizing feature. This can affect the layout and design of a webpage, especially when you need to control the form's appearance.

Disabling Textarea Resizing with CSS

Using the Resize Property

The CSS resize property controls if an element can be resized by the user. For textareas, you can use this property to disable the default resizing behavior.

To disable resizing, use this CSS:

textarea {
  resize: none;
}

This CSS rule sets the resize property to none, which stops any resizing of the textarea.

Tip: Maintain Consistent Layout

Disabling textarea resizing helps maintain a consistent layout across your webpage, preventing users from accidentally altering the design.

Applying Resize Property to All Textareas

To disable resizing for all textareas on a webpage, apply the CSS rule globally:

textarea {
  resize: none;
}

This rule targets all <textarea> elements and disables their resizing.

Targeting Specific Textareas

For more control, you can disable resizing for specific textareas:

  • Using a class:

    .no-resize {
resize: none;
}

    Apply this to a textarea with: <textarea class="no-resize"></textarea>

  • Using an ID:

    #comment-box {
resize: none;
}

    Apply this to a textarea with: <textarea id="comment-box"></textarea>

  • Using a name attribute:

    textarea[name="message"] {
resize: none;
}

    Apply this to a textarea with: <textarea name="message"></textarea>

Alternative Resizing Options

Vertical-Only Resizing

You can let users resize a textarea vertically while keeping its width fixed. This is useful when you want to give users some control over the textarea's size without changing the layout of your page. To enable vertical-only resizing, use this CSS:

textarea {
  resize: vertical;
}

This rule allows the textarea to be resized vertically, keeping its width the same.

Tip: Prevent Excessive Resizing

To limit the vertical resizing range, you can use the min-height and max-height properties:

textarea {
  resize: vertical;
  min-height: 100px;
  max-height: 300px;
}

This ensures the textarea doesn't become too small or too large.

Horizontal-Only Resizing

Sometimes, you might want to allow horizontal resizing while keeping the height fixed. This can help with inputs that might have long lines of text. To enable horizontal-only resizing, use this CSS:

textarea {
  resize: horizontal;
}

This rule allows the textarea to be resized horizontally, keeping its height the same.

For these resize options to work, you need to set the overflow property to something other than visible. For example:

textarea {
  resize: vertical;
  overflow: auto;
}

This combination allows vertical resizing and adds scrollbars when the content is bigger than the textarea's size.