This tutorial aims to guide users how to finely control the appearance and layout of the search form through Elementor's custom CSS function. The content covers common needs such as removing form borders, outlines, click focus styles, and achieving horizontal centering of forms, helping users create a personalized search experience that is consistent with the overall style of the website.

Introduction: The necessity of Elementor custom style and positioning

As a powerful page builder, Elementor provides rich drag-and-drop functions and preset styles. However, when pursuing a highly personalized website design, Elementor's default options may sometimes not meet all needs. For example, a user might want to remove the search form's default borders, change the background color, eliminate the focus outline on click, or even position it precisely in the center of the page. At this time, utilizing Elementor's built-in custom CSS functionality becomes the key to achieving these fine controls. By writing a small amount of CSS code, we can override Elementor's default styles so that the widget fits perfectly into the overall design of the website.

Analysis of core issues: style and centering of search forms

Elementor's search form widgets usually come with some default styles, such as the border of the input box, the background color, and the outline or box-shadow that appears when clicked or focused. These default styles may not match your website theme. At the same time, centering the search form is also a common layout requirement, especially in areas such as headers or footers. This tutorial details how to solve these problems with custom CSS.

Solution: Styling via custom CSS

Elementor allows users to add custom CSS code directly in the widget settings. The advantage of this method is that the CSS code will only affect the currently selected widget and avoid affecting other parts of the website.

1. CSS application location

First, in the Elementor editor, select the search form widget you want to modify. Then, navigate to the Advanced tab in its settings panel and find the Custom CSS area. All custom code will be added here.

2. Use of selector keyword

In Elementor's custom CSS area, the selector keyword is a very important placeholder. It automatically points to the root HTML element of the widget you are currently editing. This means that instead of manually finding the ID or class name of your widget, you can simply use a selector to ensure your CSS code is targeting the correct target.

3. Remove background, borders and adjust input box style

To implement a borderless, backgroundless search form and adjust the style of the input box, we need to modify the styles of the form container and the input box itself.

• Remove form container background: Elementor search forms usually have a container, possibly with a default background.

   selector .elementor-search-form__container {
      background-color: transparent !important; /* Make the container background transparent*/
  }

  The use of !important here is to ensure that our style can override the higher priority default background that Elementor may set.

• Adjust the input box style: For the search input box, we can remove its border, set the background color and rounded corners.

   selector input[type="search"] { /* Precise targeting search input box*/
      background-color: #fff; /* Set the background color of the input box to white*/
      border-radius: 0px; /* Remove rounded corners and set to right angles*/
      border: none; /* Remove input box border*/
      padding: 10px; /* Add some padding so that the text does not hug the edge*/
      margin-right: 20px; /* If there is a submit button, you can adjust the right spacing */
  }

4. Eliminate focus style (Outline & Box-shadow)

When the user clicks or focuses on the search input box, the browser or Elementor may add a blue outline or box-shadow by default, which may break the overall design. We can remove these effects through the :focus pseudo-class.

 selector input[type="search"]:focus {
    border: none; /* Ensure there is no border when focusing*/
    outline: none; /* Remove the outline when focusing*/
    box-shadow: none; /* Remove the shadow effect when focusing*/
}

5. Center the search form

To center the entire search form widget, we can make use of the margin: 0 auto; attribute. This usually requires setting an explicit width or maximum width for the widget.

 selector {
    max-width: 400px; /* Set the maximum width of the widget and adjust it according to needs */
    margin: 0 auto; /* achieve horizontal centering*/
}

By setting max-width, you can ensure that the form will not exceed the screen on small screen devices, and margin: 0 auto; will automatically allocate left and right margins within the available space to achieve centering.

Complete sample code

Combine all the above CSS code and add it to the Advanced -> Custom CSS area of ??the Elementor search form widget:

 /* 1. Center the entire search form widget*/
selector {
    max-width: 400px; /* Adjust width according to your design */
    margin: 0 auto; /* Horizontally centered*/
}

/* 2. Remove the background of the search form container*/
selector .elementor-search-form__container {
    background-color: transparent !important;
}

/* 3. Stylized search input box*/
selector input[type="search"] {
    background-color: #fff; /* Input box background color*/
    border-radius: 0px; /* No rounded corners*/
    border: none; /* remove border*/
    outline: none; /* Remove default outline*/
    padding: 10px 15px; /* internal padding*/
    color: #333; /* text color*/
    font-size: 16px; /* font size*/
    /* If there is a submit button, you can adjust the distance from the button */
    /* margin-right: 10px; */
}

/* 4. Remove the style when the search input box is focused*/
selector input[type="search"]:focus {
    border: none; /* Ensure there is no border when focusing*/
    outline: none; /* Ensure there is no outline when focusing*/
    box-shadow: none; /* Ensure there is no shadow when focusing*/
}

/* 5. (Optional) Stylized search submit button*/
selector .elementor-search-form__submit {
    background-color: #0073e6; /* Button background color*/
    color: #fff; /* button text color*/
    border: none; /* Remove button border*/
    border-radius: 0px; /* No rounded corners*/
    padding: 10px 15px; /* button internal padding*/
    cursor: pointer; /* Display the hand cursor when the mouse is hovering*/
    transition: background-color 0.3s ease; /* Add transition effect*/
}

selector .elementor-search-form__submit:hover {
    background-color: #005bb5; /* Change the background color when the mouse is hovering*/
}

Things to note and best practices

1. Selector priority: In some cases, an Elementor or a theme's CSS may have higher priority. If your custom CSS isn't taking effect, you can try using more specific selectors (like adding more parent class names) or use the !important keyword sparingly. But remember, overuse of !important can make CSS difficult to maintain.
2. Browser developer tools: Proficient use of the browser's developer tools (usually opened by pressing F12) is the key to debugging CSS. It helps you check the current style of elements, identify conflicting CSS rules, and test your CSS changes in real time.
3. Responsive design: Ensure that your custom styles display well on different devices (desktop, tablet, mobile phone). You can preview the effect in the Elementor editor's responsive mode and use media queries to write CSS for specific screen sizes if needed.
4. Caching: After making CSS changes to your website, sometimes you may need to clear your website cache (including browser cache, Elementor cache, and any server-level cache) to see the latest changes.

Summarize

Through this tutorial, you should have mastered how to use Elementor's custom CSS function to make fine style adjustments and positioning of the search form. From removing default borders and backgrounds, to eliminating focus outlines and achieving horizontal centering, custom CSS gives you endless design possibilities. Mastering these techniques will help you create a more personalized and on-brand website experience. Remember, practice is the best way to learn CSS, keep trying and tweaking, and you’ll be able to create any visual effect you want.

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