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Detect the current input (mouse or touch) and fix the sticky :hover bug on touch devices.

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Current Input

npm bundle size (version) npm type definitions

  • Detects the current input being used (mouse or touch) and adds a current-input-mouse or current-input-touch class to the body indicating the current input type.
  • Used with the appropriate CSS selectors this will fix the sticky :hover bug on touch devices and allow you to work with 3 interactive states in CSS: hover, active, and touch active.
  • current-input is as easy as set it and forget it, and is compatible with all modern browsers. It will automatically add the current-input-mouse or current-input-touch class to the body.

Demo website — demo code in the /docs folder


Installing current-input

Install it in your app:

npm install --save current-input

And then import it in your app (it will run automatically on import).

import 'current-input';

Or add the script to index.html:

Alternatively you can add the script directly to your index.html. The version that comes from the Unpkg CDN is minified and gziped with all dependencies included and will run automatically.

<script src="https://unpkg.com/current-input@2/dist/current-input.umd.production.js"></script>

Using current-input

current-input will run automatically and will add the class current-input-mouse or current-input-touch to the body. Use the appropriate CSS selectors to style elements based on the current input class.

CSS example

Here is an example using CSS to style links such that it fixes the sticky hover problem on touch devices and provides a unique touch active state. See the demo website for a live version of this example (demo code in the /docs folder).

/*
In this example, links will be:
- Black normally
- Green on hover
- Red on active
- Blue on touch active
*/

a {
  color: black;
}

.current-input-mouse a:hover {
  color: green;
}

.current-input-mouse a:active {
  color: red;
}

/* the touch active state */
.current-input-touch a:active {
  color: blue;
}

Sticky :hover bug

The sticky :hover bug on touch devices occurs when you tap something that has a :hover state. The :hover state sticks until you tap someplace else on the screen. The reason for this is back in the early days of mobile, the web relied heavily on hover menus, so on mobile you could tap to see the hover menu. Sites are generally no longer be built this way, so now the sticky hover feature has become a bug. current-input fixes the problem by allowing you to style the :hover state for mouse and touch inputs separately. Now you can only style the :hover state when the current-input-mouse class is present, and do nothing when the current-input-touch class is present, which fixes this bug.