Buttons

Use Athena's custom button styles for actions in forms, dialogs, and more with support for multiple sizes, states, and more.

Use Athena's custom button styles for actions in forms, dialogs, and more. Includes support for a handful of contextual variations, sizes, states, and more.

Contents

Examples

Athena includes several predefined button styles:


<button type="button" class="btn btn-default">Default</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Primary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary">Secondary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-complementary">Complementary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-success">Success</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-info">Info</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-warning">Warning</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-danger">Danger</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-inverse">Inverse</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-link">Link</button>

Conveying meaning to assistive technologies

Using color to add meaning 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 (e.g. the visible text), or is included through alternative means, such as additional text hidden with the .sr-only class.

Button tags

The .btn classes are designed to be used with the <button> element. However, you can also use these classes on <a> or <input> elements (though some browsers may apply a slightly different rendering).

When using button classes on <a> elements that are used to trigger in-page functionality (like collapsing content), rather than linking to new pages or sections within the current page, these links should be given a role="button" to appropriately convey their purpose to assistive technologies such as screen readers.

Link 

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

Outline buttons

In need of a button, but not the hefty background colors they bring? Replace the default modifier classes with the .btn-outline-* ones for a stylish bordered button with white background.

Note that a "default" outline button variant is not provided, since .btn-default is already styled with an outline.


<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-primary">Primary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-secondary">Secondary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-complementary">Complementary</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-success">Success</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-info">Info</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-warning">Warning</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-danger">Danger</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-inverse">Inverse</button>

Use the .btn-outline-i- outline variants against dark backgrounds for adequate text color contrast.

Note that "secondary" and "inverse" variants aren't provided here.


<div class="bg-inverse p-2">
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-primary">Primary</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-complementary">Complementary</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-success">Success</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-info">Info</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-warning">Warning</button>
  <button type="button" class="btn btn-outline-i-danger">Danger</button>
</div>

Sizes

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


<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg">Large button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary btn-lg">Large button</button>


<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary btn-sm">Small button</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-secondary btn-sm">Small button</button>

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-secondary 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. There's no need to add a class to <button>s as they use a pseudo-class. However, you can still force the same active appearance with .active (and include the aria-pressed="true" attribute) should you need to replicate the state programmatically.

Primary link Link 

<a href="#" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg active" role="button" aria-pressed="true">Primary link</a>
<a href="#" class="btn btn-secondary btn-lg active" role="button" aria-pressed="true">Link</a>

Disabled state

Make buttons look inactive by adding the disabled boolean attribute to any <button> element.


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

Disabled buttons using the <a> element behave a bit different:

  • <a>s don't support the disabled attribute, so you must add the .disabled class to make it visually appear disabled.
  • Some future-friendly styles are included to disable all pointer-events on anchor buttons. In browsers which support that property, you won't see the disabled cursor at all.
  • Disabled buttons should include the aria-disabled="true" attribute to indicate the state of the element to assistive technologies.
Primary link Link 

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

The .disabled class uses pointer-events: none to try to disable the link functionality of <a>s, but that CSS property is not yet standardized. 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, add a tabindex="-1" attribute on these links (to prevent them from receiving keyboard focus) and use custom JavaScript to disable their functionality.

JavaScript behavior

Do more with buttons using Athena's included JavaScript. Control button states or create groups of buttons for more components like toolbars.

Toggle states

Add data-toggle="button" to toggle a button's active state. If you're pre-toggling a button, you must manually add the .active class and aria-pressed="true" to the <button>.


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

Checkbox and radio buttons

Athena's .button styles can be applied to other elements, such as <label>s, to provide checkbox or radio style button toggling. Add data-toggle="buttons" to a .btn-group containing those modified buttons to enable toggling in their respective styles.

The checked state for these buttons is only updated via click event on the button. If you use another method to update the input—e.g., with <input type="reset"> or by manually applying the input's checked property—you'll need to toggle .active on the <label> manually.

Note that pre-checked buttons require you to manually add the .active class to the input's <label>.


<div class="btn-group" data-toggle="buttons">
  <label class="btn btn-secondary active">
    <input type="checkbox" checked autocomplete="off"> Checkbox 1 (pre-checked)
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-secondary">
    <input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off"> Checkbox 2
  </label>
  <label class="btn btn-secondary">
    <input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off"> Checkbox 3
  </label>
</div>


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

Methods

Method Description
$().button('toggle') Toggles push state. Gives the button the appearance that it has been activated.