CSS -webkit-appearance: none; is causing checkbox to not be checked - css

Question

All,
I have a checkbox that I applied the following CSS style to:
-webkit-appearance: none;
This same code is on some text fields I have and these still continue to work just fine. Why is this functionality causing the checkbox to not allowed to be checked?
I like the styling of the checkbox this way but still need the functionality to work. If I change the code to:
-webkit-appearance: checkbox;
It displays the standard checkbox. Any ideas? Here is a demonstration:
/* http://jsfiddle.net/VWC76/ */
input[type='checkbox'] {
height: 20px;
border: 1px solid #B5B7B8;
font: 14px/26px 'pt-sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif;
padding: 7px 7px 7px 12px;
/*margin:0 0 30px 0;*/
background: #FFF;
border: 1px solid #d5d5d6;
outline: none;
color: #96999D;
box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1);
-webkit-appearance: none;
-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
border-radius: 4px;
transition: all 0.15s;
}
input[type=checkbox]:focus {
border-color: #ACACB8;
color: #2E3236;
box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.18)!important;
}
div {
border: 1px inset #ccc;
border-radius: 7px;
margin: 1em;
padding: 1em;
}
#webkitCheckbox {
-webkit-appearance: checkbox;
}
<div>
<label>
<input type="checkbox" />
<span>This has <code>-webkit-appearance: none;</code></span>
</label>
</div>
<div>
<label>
<input type="checkbox" id="webkitCheckbox" />
<span>This has <code>-webkit-appearance: checkbox;</code></span>
</label>
</div>

Answer 1

You just nuked all styles of checkbox on WebKit, so yes you can't see whether they're checked or not (they still are, it just isn't visible to us sighted people without a screen reader).
You need to style the checked state with the :checked pseudo: http://jsfiddle.net/VWC76/450/
input[type=checkbox]:checked {
background-color: red;
/* or whatever styles you want depending on your design */
/* be as obvious as possible that it's a checkbox and that it's checked! */
}
EDIT:
appearance:none now exists outside of WebKit/Blink (caniuse). Just use Autoprefixer if you've better to do than adding prefixes by hand :)
A good implementation: accessible custom checkbox and radio form controls
EDIT 2:
in the fiddle demo, adding focusable elements before and after checkbox to show it works with keyboard (just click on the first occurence of "Test" and then tab tab space tab). It lacks any visual cue that checkbox/label is focused which is a bad thing (it's a demo). Best seen on Chrome which is a worse thing :p (you need Autoprefixer. Try on Codepen)

Answer 2

You need to add a input[type=checkbox]:checked
input[type=checkbox]:checked {
background: #BADA55;
}
If this is what you're looking for?

Answer 3

Disabling the appearance removes the checked appearance too. You also need to add styles to define how the checkbox will appear when checked.
input[type='checkbox']:checked
{
position:relative;
}
input[type='checkbox']:checked:before
{
content:'';
display:block;
width:17px;
height:16px;
position:absolute;
top:1px;
left:1px;
background:none #ACACB8;
-webkit-border-radius: 3px;
-moz-border-radius: 3px;
border-radius: 3px;
opacity:0.5;
}
Check out the fiddle below for an example:
http://jsfiddle.net/8n8hM/

Answer 4

The best way to personnalize checkbox or radio button that works cross browser is by using label that you set for your checkbox.
In your css, you hide your checkbox and you add any style you want for the label.
input[type='checkbox'] {
outline: 0;
user-select: none;
display: inline-block;
position: absolute;
opacity: 0;
}
input[type='checkbox'] + label {
display:inline-block;
width:20px;
height:20px;
background-color:blue
}
input[type='checkbox']:checked + label {
background-color:red
}
<input id="myChk" type="checkbox" />
<label for="myChk">&nbsp</label>
See this jsfiddle.