Skip to main content

University Marketing and Communications

Resources

Buttons

Button tags

Use the button classes on an <a>, <button>, or <input> element.

Link 
<a class="btn btn-default" href="#" role="button">Link</a>
<button class="btn btn-default" type="submit">Button</button>
<input class="btn btn-default" type="button" value="Input">
<input class="btn btn-default" type="submit" value="Submit">

Context-specific usage

While button classes can be used on <a> and <button> elements, only <button> elements are supported within our nav and navbar components.

Links acting as buttons

If the <a> elements are used to act as buttons – triggering in-page functionality, rather than navigating to another document or section within the current page – they should also be given an appropriate role="button".

Cross-browser rendering

As a best practice, we highly recommend using the <button> element whenever possible to ensure matching cross-browser rendering.

Among other things, there's a bug in Firefox <30 that prevents us from setting the line-height of <input>-based buttons, causing them to not exactly match the height of other buttons on Firefox.

Options

Use any of the available button classes to quickly create a styled button.

<!-- Standard button -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default">Default</button>

<!-- Provides extra visual weight and identifies the primary action in a set of buttons -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Primary</button>

<!-- Indicates a successful or positive action -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-success">Success</button>

<!-- Contextual button for informational alert messages -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-info">Info</button>

<!-- Indicates caution should be taken with this action -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-warning">Warning</button>

<!-- Indicates a dangerous or potentially negative action -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-danger">Danger</button>

<!-- Deemphasize a button by making it look like a link while maintaining button behavior -->
<button type="button" class="btn btn-link">Link</button>

Conveying meaning to assistive technologies

Using color to add meaning to a button only provides a visual indication, which will not be conveyed to users of assistive technologies – such as screen readers. Ensure that information denoted by the color is either obvious from the content itself (the visible text of the button), or is included through alternative means, such as additional text hidden with the .sr-only class.

Sizes

Fancy larger or smaller buttons? Add .btn-lg, .btn-sm, or .btn-xs for additional sizes.

<p>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg">Large button</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-lg">Large button</button>
</p>
<p>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Default button</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-default">Default button</button>
</p>
<p>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Small button</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-sm">Small button</button>
</p>
<p>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-xs">Extra small button</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-xs">Extra small button</button>
</p>

Create block level buttons—those that span the full width of a parent— by adding .btn-block.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block">Block level button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-lg btn-block">Block level button</button>

Active state

Buttons will appear pressed (with a darker background, darker border, and inset shadow) when active. For <button> elements, this is done via :active. For <a> elements, it's done with .active. However, you may use .active on <button>s (and include the aria-pressed="true" attribute) should you need to replicate the active state programmatically.

Button element

No need to add :active as it's a pseudo-class, but if you need to force the same appearance, go ahead and add .active.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg active">Primary button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-lg active">Button</button>

Anchor element

Add the .active class to <a> buttons.

Primary link Link

<a href="#" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg active" role="button">Primary link</a>
<a href="#" class="btn btn-default btn-lg active" role="button">Link</a>

Disabled state

Make buttons look unclickable by fading them back with opacity.

Button element

Add the disabled attribute to <button> buttons.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-lg btn-primary" disabled="disabled">Primary button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default btn-lg" disabled="disabled">Button</button>

Cross-browser compatibility

If you add the disabled attribute to a <button>, Internet Explorer 9 and below will render text gray with a nasty text-shadow that we cannot fix.

Anchor element

Add the .disabled class to <a> buttons.

Primary link Link

<a href="#" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg disabled" role="button">Primary link</a>
<a href="#" class="btn btn-default btn-lg disabled" role="button">Link</a>

We use .disabled as a utility class here, similar to the common .active class, so no prefix is required.

Link functionality caveat

This class uses pointer-events: none to try to disable the link functionality of <a>s, but that CSS property is not yet standardized and isn't fully supported in Opera 18 and below, or in Internet Explorer 11. In addition, even in browsers that do support pointer-events: none, keyboard navigation remains unaffected, meaning that sighted keyboard users and users of assistive technologies will still be able to activate these links. So to be safe, use custom JavaScript to disable such links.

Button plugin

Do more with buttons. Control button states or create groups of buttons for more components like toolbars.

Cross-browser compatibility

Firefox persists form control states (disabledness and checkedness) across page loads. A workaround for this is to use autocomplete="off". See Mozilla bug #654072.

Stateful

Add data-loading-text="Loading..." to use a loading state on a button.

This feature is deprecated since v3.3.5 and will be removed in v4.

Use whichever state you like!

For the sake of this demonstration, we are using data-loading-text and $().button('loading'), but that's not the only state you can use. See more on this below in the $().button(string) documentation.

<button type="button" id="myButton" data-loading-text="Loading..." class="btn btn-primary" autocomplete="off">
  Loading state
</button>

<script>
  $('#myButton').on('click', function () {
    var $btn = $(this).button('loading')
    // business logic...
    $btn.button('reset')
  })
</script>

Single toggle

Add data-toggle="button" to activate toggling on a single button.

Pre-toggled buttons need .active and aria-pressed="true"

For pre-toggled buttons, you must add the .active class and the aria-pressed="true" attribute to the button yourself.

<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" data-toggle="button" aria-pressed="false" autocomplete="off">
  Single toggle
</button>

Checkbox / Radio

Add data-toggle="buttons" to a .btn-group containing checkbox or radio inputs to enable toggling in their respective styles.

Preselected options need .active

For preselected options, you must add the .active class to the input's label yourself.

Visual checked state only updated on click

If the checked state of a checkbox button is updated without firing a click event on the button (e.g. via <input type="reset"> or via setting the checked property of the input), you will need to toggle the .active class on the input's label yourself.

<div class="btn-group" data-toggle="buttons">
  <label class="btn btn-primary active">
    <input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off" checked> Checkbox 1 (pre-checked)
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-primary">
    <input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off"> Checkbox 2
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-primary">
    <input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off"> Checkbox 3
  </label>
</div>
<div class="btn-group" data-toggle="buttons">
  <label class="btn btn-primary active">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option1" autocomplete="off" checked> Radio 1 (preselected)
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-primary">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option2" autocomplete="off"> Radio 2
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-primary">
    <input type="radio" name="options" id="option3" autocomplete="off"> Radio 3
  </label>
</div>

Methods

$().button('toggle')

Toggles push state. Gives the button the appearance that it has been activated.

$().button('reset')

Resets button state - swaps text to original text. This method is asynchronous and returns before the resetting has actually completed.

$().button(string)

Swaps text to any data defined text state.

<button type="button" id="myStateButton" data-complete-text="finished!" class="btn btn-primary" autocomplete="off">
  ...
</button>

<script>
  $('#myStateButton').on('click', function () {
    $(this).button('complete') // button text will be "finished!"
  })
</script>