Should I size a textarea with CSS width / height or HTML cols / rows attributes?

css, html, textarea

Solution

I recommend to use both. Rows and cols are required and useful if the client does not support CSS. But as a designer I overwrite them to get exactly the size I wish.

The recommended way to do it is via an external stylesheet e.g.

textarea {
  width: 300px;
  height: 150px;
}

<textarea> </textarea>

Problem

Every time I develop a new form that includes a `textarea` I have the following dilemma when I need to specify its dimensions: Use CSS or use the `textarea`'s attributes `cols` and `rows`? What are the pros and cons of each method? What are the semantics of using these attributes? How is it usually done?

Original source

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