One use of readonly form controls is to allow the user to check and verify information that they may have entered in an earlier form (for example, shipping details), while still being able to submit the information along with the rest of the form. We do just this in the example below.

The :read-only pseudo-class is used to remove all the styling that makes the inputs look like clickable fields, making them look more like read-only paragraphs. The :read-write pseudo-class on the other hand is used to provide some nicer styling to the editable <textarea>.

input:-moz-read-only,
textarea:-moz-read-only,
input:read-only,
textarea:read-only {
  border: 0;
  box-shadow: none;
  background-color: white;
}

textarea:-moz-read-write,
textarea:read-write {
  box-shadow: inset 1px 1px 3px #ccc;
  border-radius: 5px;
}

You can find the full source code at readonly-confirmation.html; this renders like so:

This selector doesn't just select <input>/<textarea> elements — it will select any element that can be edited by the user, such as a <p> element with contenteditable set on it.

<p contenteditable>This paragraph is editable; it is read-write.</p>

<p>This paragraph is not editable; it is read-only.</p>

p {
  font-size: 150%;
  padding: 5px;
  border-radius: 5px;
}

p:read-only {
  background-color: red;
  color: white;
}

p:read-write {
  background-color: lime;
}

• :read-only
• HTML contenteditable attribute