Buttons
Use Bootstrap’s custom button styles for actions in forms, dialogs, and more with support for multiple sizes, states, and more.
Bootstrap includes several predefined button styles, each serving its own semantic purpose, with a few extras thrown in for more control.
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.
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.
In need of a button, but not the hefty background colors they bring? Replace the default modifier classes with the .btn-outline-*
ones to remove all background images and colors on any button.
Fancy larger or smaller buttons? Add .btn-lg
or .btn-sm
for additional sizes.
Create block level buttons—those that span the full width of a parent—by adding .btn-block
.
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.
Make buttons look inactive by adding the disabled
boolean attribute to any <button>
element.
Disabled buttons using the <a>
element behave a bit different:
<a>
s don’t support thedisabled
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.
Link functionality caveat
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.
Do more with buttons. Control button states or create groups of buttons for more components like toolbars.
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>
.
Bootstrap’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 their toggling behavior via JavaScript and add .btn-group-toggle
to style the <input>
s within your buttons. Note that you can create single input-powered buttons or groups of them.
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>
.
Method | Description |
---|---|
$().button('toggle') |
Toggles push state. Gives the button the appearance that it has been activated. |
$().button('dispose') |
Destroys an element’s button. |