Align labels in form next to input

I have very basic and known scenario of form where I need to align labels next to inputs correctly. However I don't know how to do it.

My goal would be that labels are aligned next to inputs to the right side. Here is picture example of desired result.

enter image description here

I have made a fiddle for your convenience and to clarify what I have now - http://jsfiddle.net/WX58z/

Snippet:

<div class="block">
    <label>Simple label</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>
<div class="block">
    <label>Label with more text</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>
<div class="block">
    <label>Short</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>

Solution 1:

WARNING: OUTDATED ANSWER

Nowadays you should definitely avoid using fixed widths. You could use flexbox or CSS grid to come up with a responsive solution. See the other answers.

One possible solution:

Give the labels display: inline-block;
Give them a fixed width
Align text to the right

That is:

label {
  display: inline-block;
  width: 140px;
  text-align: right;
}

<div class="block">
    <label>Simple label</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>
<div class="block">
    <label>Label with more text</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>
<div class="block">
    <label>Short</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>

JSFiddle

Solution 2:

While the solutions here are workable, more recent technology has made for what I think is a better solution. CSS Grid Layout allows us to structure a more elegant solution.

The CSS below provides a 2-column "settings" structure, where the first column is expected to be a right-aligned label, followed by some content in the second column. More complicated content can be presented in the second column by wrapping it in a <div>.

[As a side-note: I use CSS to add the ':' that trails each label, as this is a stylistic element - my preference.]

/* CSS */

div.settings {
    display:grid;
    grid-template-columns: max-content max-content;
    grid-gap:5px;
}
div.settings label       { text-align:right; }
div.settings label:after { content: ":"; }

<!-- HTML -->

<div class="settings">
    <label>Label #1</label>
    <input type="text" />

    <label>Long Label #2</label>
    <span>Display content</span>

    <label>Label #3</label>
    <input type="text" />
</div>

Solution 3:

Answered a question such as this before, you can take a look at the results here:

Creating form to have fields and text next to each other - what is the semantic way to do it?

So to apply the same rules to your fiddle you can use display:inline-block to display your label and input groups side by side, like so:

CSS

input {
    margin-top: 5px;
    margin-bottom: 5px;
    display:inline-block;
    *display: inline;     /* for IE7*/
    zoom:1;              /* for IE7*/
    vertical-align:middle;
    margin-left:20px
}

label {
    display:inline-block;
    *display: inline;     /* for IE7*/
    zoom:1;              /* for IE7*/
    float: left;
    padding-top: 5px;
    text-align: right;
    width: 140px;
}

updated fiddle

Solution 4:

I use something similar to this:

<div class="form-element">
  <label for="foo">Long Label</label>
  <input type="text" name="foo" id="foo" />
</div>

Style:

.form-element label {
    display: inline-block;
    width: 150px;
}

Solution 5:

You can also try using flex-box

<head><style>
body {
    color:white;
    font-family:arial;
    font-size:1.2em;
}
form {
    margin:0 auto;
    padding:20px;
    background:#444;
}
.input-group {
    margin-top:10px;
    width:60%;
    display:flex;
    justify-content:space-between;
    flex-wrap:wrap;
}
label, input {
    flex-basis:100px;
}
</style></head>
<body>

<form>
    <div class="wrapper">
        <div class="input-group">
            <label for="user_name">name:</label>
            <input type="text" id="user_name">
        </div>
        <div class="input-group">
            <label for="user_pass">Password:</label>
            <input type="password" id="user_pass">
        </div>
    </div>
</form>

</body>
</html>