Customizing Textarea Text Formatting Textareas offer inherent advantages like scrollbars, but what if you need to stylize specific text sections within the element?</p> <p><strong>Cannot Format <span> Elements in <textarea></strong></p> <p>While it may seem intuitive to embed <span> tags for text formatting, standard <textarea> elements do not natively support this functionality. They are designed for plain text content, not rich formatting.</p> <p><strong>Use a "Fake Textarea" with contenteditable</strong></p> <p>To achieve customizable text formatting, consider using a "fake textarea" approach. Implement a <div> element with the contenteditable attribute, which allows you to edit content within the div.</p> <div class="code" style="position:relative; padding:0px; margin:0px;"><pre><div></pre><div class="contentsignin">Copy after login</div></div> <p><strong>Customizing the "Fake Textarea"</strong></p> <p>The "fake textarea" allows for greater customization:</p> <ul> <li>Set scrollbars using the CSS overflow property.</li> <li>Use this element in forms like a regular textarea.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Example with jQuery</strong></p> <p>To submit the content of your "fake textarea" in a POST request, you can use jQuery:</p> <div class="code" style="position:relative; padding:0px; margin:0px;"><pre><input type="hidden"></pre><div class="contentsignin">Copy after login</div></div> <div class="code" style="position:relative; padding:0px; margin:0px;"><pre>$('#your_form').submit(function() { $('#fake_textarea_content').val($('#fake_textarea').html()); });</pre><div class="contentsignin">Copy after login</div></div>
