I'm trying to over ride the default error message label with a div instead of a label. I have looked at this post as well and get how to do it but my limitations with CSS are haunting me. How can I display this like some of these examples:

Example #1 (Dojo) - Must type invalid input to see error display
Example #2

Here is some example code that overrides the error label to a div element

$(document).ready(function(){
            $("#myForm").validate({
                rules: {
                    "elem.1": {
                        required: true,
                        digits: true
                    },
                    "elem.2": {
                        required: true
                    }
                },
                errorElement: "div"
            });                  
        });

Now I'm at a loss on the css part but here it is:

div.error {
        position:absolute;
        margin-top:-21px;
     margin-left:150px;
     border:2px solid #C0C097;
        background-color:#fff;
        color:white;
        padding:3px;
        text-align:left;
        z-index:1;
        color:#333333;
     font:100% arial,helvetica,clean,sans-serif;
     font-size:15px;
     font-weight:bold;  
    }

UPDATE:

Okay I'm using this code now but the image and the placement on the popup is larger than the border, can this be adjusted to be dynamic is height?

if (element.attr('type') == 'radio' || element.attr('type') == 'checkbox') {
   element = element.parent();

   offset = element.offset();
   error.insertBefore(element)
   error.addClass('message');  // add a class to the wrapper
   error.css('position', 'absolute');
   error.css('left', offset.left + element.outerWidth());
   error.css('top', offset.top - (element.height() / 2)); // Not working for Radio, displays towards the bottom of the element. also need to test with checkbox
} else {
   // Error placement for single elements
   offset = element.offset();
   error.insertBefore(element)
   error.addClass('message');  // add a class to the wrapper
   error.css('position', 'absolute');
   error.css('left', offset.left + element.outerWidth());
   error.css('top', offset.top - (element.height() / 2));
}

the css is the same as below (your css code)

Html

<span>
<input type="radio" class="checkbox" value="P" id="radio_P" name="radio_group_name"/>
<label for="radio_P">P</label>
<input type="radio" class="checkbox" value="S" id="radio_S" name="radio_group_name"/>
<label for="radio_S">S</label>
</span>