iCheck plugin ^1.0.2

Highly customizable checkboxes and radio buttons for jQuery and Zepto.

Refer to the iCheck website for examples.

Note: iCheck v2.0 is on the way, it got a huge performance boost, many new options and methods. It's in a release candidate state, so you may try to use it. Feel free to submit an issue if you find something not working.

Features

• Identical inputs across different browsers and devices — both desktop and mobile
• Touch devices support — iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle
• Keyboard accessible inputs — Tab, Spacebar, Arrow up/down and other shortcuts
• Customization freedom — use any HTML and CSS to style inputs (try 6 Retina-ready skins)
• jQuery and Zepto JavaScript libraries support from single file
• Screenreader accessible inputs — ARIA attributes for VoiceOver and others
• Lightweight size — 1 kb gzipped

• 32 options to customize checkboxes and radio buttons
• 11 callbacks to handle changes
• 9 methods to make changes programmatically
• Saves changes to original inputs, works carefully with any selectors

How it works

iCheck works with checkboxes and radio buttons like a constructor. It wraps each input with a div, which may be customized by you or using one of the available skins. You may also place inside that div some HTML code or text using insert option.

For this HTML:

<label>
  <input type="checkbox" name="quux[1]" disabled>
  Foo
</label>
 
<label for="baz[1]">Bar</label>
<input type="radio" name="quux[2]" id="baz[1]" checked>
 
<label for="baz[2]">Bar</label>
<input type="radio" name="quux[2]" id="baz[2]">

With default options you'll get nearly this:

<label>
  <div class="icheckbox disabled">
    <input type="checkbox" name="quux[1]" disabled>
  </div>
  Foo
</label>
 
<label for="baz[1]">Bar</label>
<div class="iradio checked">
  <input type="radio" name="quux[2]" id="baz[1]" checked>
</div>
 
<label for="baz[2]">Bar</label>
<div class="iradio">
  <input type="radio" name="quux[2]" id="baz[2]">
</div>

By default, iCheck doesn't provide any CSS styles for wrapper divs (if you don't use skins).

Options

These options are default:

{
  // 'checkbox' or 'radio' to style only checkboxes or radio buttons, both by default
  handle: '',
 
  // base class added to customized checkboxes
  checkboxClass: 'icheckbox',
 
  // base class added to customized radio buttons
  radioClass: 'iradio',
 
  // class added on checked state (input.checked = true)
  checkedClass: 'checked',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'checkedClass' option (input type specific)
    checkedCheckboxClass: '',
    checkedRadioClass: '',
 
  // if not empty, added as class name on unchecked state (input.checked = false)
  uncheckedClass: '',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'uncheckedClass' option (input type specific)
    uncheckedCheckboxClass: '',
    uncheckedRadioClass: '',
 
  // class added on disabled state (input.disabled = true)
  disabledClass: 'disabled',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'disabledClass' option (input type specific)
    disabledCheckboxClass: '',
    disabledRadioClass: '',
 
  // if not empty, added as class name on enabled state (input.disabled = false)
  enabledClass: '',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'enabledClass' option (input type specific)
    enabledCheckboxClass: '',
    enabledRadioClass: '',
 
  // class added on indeterminate state (input.indeterminate = true)
  indeterminateClass: 'indeterminate',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'indeterminateClass' option (input type specific)
    indeterminateCheckboxClass: '',
    indeterminateRadioClass: '',
 
  // if not empty, added as class name on determinate state (input.indeterminate = false)
  determinateClass: '',
 
    // if not empty, used instead of 'determinateClass' option (input type specific)
    determinateCheckboxClass: '',
    determinateRadioClass: '',
 
  // class added on hover state (pointer is moved onto input)
  hoverClass: 'hover',
 
  // class added on focus state (input has gained focus)
  focusClass: 'focus',
 
  // class added on active state (mouse button is pressed on input)
  activeClass: 'active',
 
  // adds hoverClass to customized input on label hover and labelHoverClass to label on input hover
  labelHover: true,
 
    // class added to label if labelHover set to true
    labelHoverClass: 'hover',
 
  // increase clickable area by given % (negative number to decrease)
  increaseArea: '',
 
  // true to set 'pointer' CSS cursor over enabled inputs and 'default' over disabled
  cursor: false,
 
  // set true to inherit original input's class name
  inheritClass: false,
 
  // if set to true, input's id is prefixed with 'iCheck-' and attached
  inheritID: false,
 
  // set true to activate ARIA support
  aria: false,
 
  // add HTML code or text inside customized input
  insert: ''
}

There's no need to copy and paste all of them, you can just mention the ones you need:

$('input').iCheck({
  labelHover: false,
  cursor: true
});

You can choose any class names and style them as you want.

Initialize

Just include icheck.js after jQuery v1.7+ (or Zepto [polyfill, event, data]).

iCheck supports any selectors, but handles only checkboxes and radio buttons:

// customize all inputs (will search for checkboxes and radio buttons)
$('input').iCheck();
 
// handle inputs only inside $('.block')
$('.block input').iCheck();
 
// handle only checkboxes inside $('.test')
$('.test input').iCheck({
  handle: 'checkbox'
});
 
// handle .vote class elements (will search inside the element, if it's not an input)
$('.vote').iCheck();
 
// you can also change options after inputs are customized
$('input.some').iCheck({
  // different options
});

Indeterminate

HTML5 allows specifying indeterminate ("partially" checked) state for checkboxes. iCheck supports this for both checkboxes and radio buttons.

You can make an input indeterminate through HTML using additional attributes (supported by iCheck). Both do the same job, but indeterminate="true" may not work in some browsers (like IE7):

indeterminate="true"
<input type="checkbox" indeterminate="true">
<input type="radio" indeterminate="true">
 
determinate="false"
<input type="checkbox" determinate="false">
<input type="radio" determinate="false">

indeterminate and determinate methods can be used to toggle indeterminate state.

Callbacks

iCheck provides plenty callbacks, which may be used to handle changes.

Use on() method to bind them to inputs:

$('input').on('ifChecked', function(event){
  alert(event.type + ' callback');
});

ifCreated callback should be binded before plugin init.

Methods

These methods can be used to make changes programmatically (any selectors can be used):

// change input's state to 'checked'
$('input').iCheck('check');
 
// remove 'checked' state
$('input').iCheck('uncheck');
 
// toggle 'checked' state
$('input').iCheck('toggle');
 
// change input's state to 'disabled'
$('input').iCheck('disable');
 
// remove 'disabled' state
$('input').iCheck('enable');
 
// change input's state to 'indeterminate'
$('input').iCheck('indeterminate');
 
// remove 'indeterminate' state
$('input').iCheck('determinate');
 
// apply input changes, which were done outside the plugin
$('input').iCheck('update');
 
// remove all traces of iCheck
$('input').iCheck('destroy');

You may also specify some function, that will be executed on each method call:

$('input').iCheck('check', function(){
  alert('Well done, Sir');
});

Feel free to fork and submit pull-request or submit an issue if you find something not working.

Comparison

iCheck is created to avoid routine of reinventing the wheel when working with checkboxes and radio buttons. It provides an expected identical result for the huge number of browsers, devices and their versions. Callbacks and methods can be used to easily handle and make changes at customized inputs.

There are some CSS3 ways available to style checkboxes and radio buttons, like this one. You have to know about some of the disadvantages of similar methods:

• inputs are keyboard inaccessible, since display: none or visibility: hidden used to hide them
• poor browser support
• multiple bugs on mobile devices
• tricky, harder to maintain CSS code
• JavaScript is still needed to fix specific issues

While CSS3 method is quite limited solution, iCheck is made to be an everyday replacement covering most of the tasks.

Browser support

iCheck is verified to work in Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+, Opera 9+, Google Chrome and Safari browsers. Should also work in many others.

Mobile browsers (like Opera mini, Chrome mobile, Safari mobile, Android browser, Silk and others) are also supported. Tested on iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod), Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone devices.

Changelog

March 03, 2014

• Better HiDPI screens support @ddctd143

January 23, 2014 (v2.0 release candidate)

• Three ways to set an options: global object (window.icheck), data attributes (<input data-checkedClass="checked") and direct JavaScript object ($(input).icheck({ options }))
• Huge performance boost (takes less than 1s to customize 1000 inputs)
• Minimized number of function calls (some slow jQuery functions are replaced with a faster vanilla alternatives without using any dependencies)
• AMD module definition support (both for jQuery and Zepto)
• Unblocked native events - iCheck 2.x doesn't stop your newly or past binded events from being processed
• Pointer events support - full support for phones and tablets that use Windows OS (such as Lumia, HP tablets, desktops with a touch screen, etc)
• WebOS and Firefox OS support
• New methods: $(input).icheck('data') to get all the options were used for customization (also stores a current states values - checked, disabled and indeterminate), $('input').icheck('styler') to get a wrapper div (that's used for customization)
• Better handling of the indeterminate state
• Ability to set callbacks in three ways: global object, direct JavaScript object or using bind method ($(input).on(callback))
• Ability to switch off some of the callbacks when you don't need them (global or per input)
• Inline styles dropped - iCheck won't add any inline styles to the elements until it's highly needed (cursor or area option)
• Fast click support - removes a 300ms click delay on mobile devices without any dependencies (iCheck compatible with the fastclick plugin), see the tap option
• Ability to ignore customization for the selected inputs using init option (if set to false)
• Optimized event bindings - iCheck binds only a few global events for the all inputs (doesn't increase on elements addition), instead of a couple for the each customized element
• Doesn't store tons of arbitrary data (event in jQuery or Zepto cache), defines customized elements by specific classnames
• Extra ins tag is dropped (less DOM modifications), iCheck wraps each input with a single div and doesn't use any extra markup for the any option
• Optimized reflows and repaints on init and state changes
• Better options handling - iCheck will never run a single line of JS to process an options that are off or empty
• Ability to auto customize the ajax loaded inputs without using any extra code (autoAjax option, on by default)
• Auto inits on domready using the specified selector (autoInit option) - searches for .icheck by default. Classnames can be changed using the window.classes object
• Memory usage optimization - uses only a few amount of memory (works well on low-memory devices)
• Betters callbacks architecture - these are fired only after changes are applied to the input
• Ability to set a mirror classes between the inputs and assigned labels using the hoverLabelClass, focusLabelClass, activeLabelClass, checkedLabelClass, disabledLabelClass and indeterminateLabelClass options (mirror option should be set to true to make this happen)
• Fixes some issues of the mobile devices
• Fixes the issues of the wrapper labels, that loose a click ability in some browsers (if no for attribute is set)
• Some other options and improvements
• Various bug fixes

Note: extended docs and usage examples will be available later.

December 19, 2013

• Added Bower support
• Added to jQuery plugin registry

December 18, 2013

• Added ARIA attributes support (for VoiceOver and others) @myfreeweb
• Added Amazon Kindle support @skinofstars
• Fixed clickable links inside labels @LeGaS
• Fixed lines separation between labels and inputs
• Merged two versions of the plugin (jQuery and Zepto) into one
• Fixed demo links
• Fixed callbacks @PepijnSenders

License

iCheck plugin is released under the MIT License. Feel free to use it in personal and commercial projects.