Style: Button - University of Houston
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UH's MD Anderson Memorial Library at night
WHY MIGHT I USE THESE?
A button can provide an intuitive, tactile-device metaphor - which users will identify immediately as an action item. Use within online Forms, or to indicate a special download or action. Don't over use! Clutter diminishes impact.

SEE ALSO
Notes on removing a style
See other Style popout examples

btn & btn-primary, etc.

These styles are intended for turning linked text or the appropriate Form inputs into virtual buttons.

| Creating Buttons | ExamplesCompare to: No Style, Insufficient Style |

Creating Buttons

The button styles should be applied to a link's HTML tag (i.e. <a … ) and not to the enclosing element such as a paragraph's HTML tag (i.e. <p …  ).

Please also note that the 'btn' style should not stand alone: it needs to also be combined with one or more modifier button styles, such as 'btn-primary' or 'btn-default' (which also should not be applied alone - see Compare section for examples of insufficiently applied styles).

For text:

  • Highlight the span of text to which the link will be applied.
  • Use the Insert/Edit Link tool to define the link.
  • Before clicking Ok, open the CSS selector popout and pick the basic button style, 'btn'. 
  • Click Ok to apply the link.
  • Note: because the Link tool's CSS selector is a little tricky and can destroy previous style assignments, it is recommended that any additional style[s] needed be added after exiting the Link tool – by returning to the established link, placing your cursor within the linked text, and then selecting the other style(s) from the Formats: Custom Styles popout.
  • Active, applied styles will show up in the popout listing with a marker next to them.
  • Styles can also be removed:
    • place your cursor inside an existing link;
    • open the Formats: Custom Styles popout, and then
    • click on the style(s) with the marker already showing, to remove that style.
  • If you are comfortable looking at the HTML, open that editor (Tools: Source Code) and review the style assignments for the links in question.

YES:
<p><a class="btn btn-primary" href="#"> . . . </a></p>

NO:
<p class="btn btn-primary"><a href="#"> . . . </a></p>

For Form items:

Applying these styles to form input tags will require editing the HTML (Tools: Source Code). The btn, btn-primary, etc. styles should be applied to the appropriate form input tags as part of a class attribute; e.g. as in the two input tags illustrated below:

   

   

<input class="btn btn-primary" id="submitsample" value=" Send Feedback " type="submit" />

<input class="btn btn-default" id="resetsample" value=" Reset " type="reset" />


Other examples

The following linked text shows btn together with other modifying button styles

Note: for demonstration purposes only, these links are generally simple same-page-links.

Using btn, btn-primary:
button: btn-primary

Using btn, btn-primary, btn-sm:
button: btn-primary, btn-sm

Using btn, btn-primary, btn-xs:
button: btn-primary, btn-xs

Using btn, btn-default, btn-xs:
button: btn-default, btn-xs

Using btn, btn-primary, btn-lg:
button: btn-primary, btn-lg

For an overview of Button styles used at UH, see: 
Web Marketing's Bootstrap pages.
(Button above uses: btn, btn-success)

 

The following show form "submit" type inputs:

respectively, with no style applied; with btn only applied; and with both btn and btn-primary applied.


Compare to:

This paragraph-formatted sentence has no specific style applied to it.

This paragraph-formatted sentence contains the following: linked text with no style applied.

The following words and phrases have insufficiently applied button styles:

Using 'btn' only

Using 'btn-default' only

Using 'btn-primary' only

 


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