CSS3 Buttons

What is this?

CSS3 Buttons is a simple framework for creating good-looking GitHub style button links.

UPDATE 19th of Mar. Now you can also indicate a positive action by using the .positive class, which will change the hover-state to green.

UPDATE 19th of Mar. It is now possible to use <button> tags to easily submit forms.

UPDATE 26th of Feb. The icon sprite has been optimized and additional icons has been added. Scroll down to see what's new!

Buttons

To create a button, the only thing you have to do is this:

Code:

<a href="#" class="button">This is a Button</a>

Result:

This is a Button

You can also use the button tag:

Code:

<button class="button">This is a Button</button>

Result:

If you prefer a pill-like button with more rounded corners, you can add a .pill class to the button

Sometimes when you have multiple buttons, it's considered good practice to highlight the button with the primary action in order to give the user a visual clue of what action to take if in doubt. This can be accomplished by adding a .primary class to the button

Code:

<a href="#" class="primary button">Publish Post</a> or <a href="#" class="button">Save as Draft</a>

Result:

Publish Post or Save as Draft

Buttons with negative actions

If you have a button that triggers a negative action, like deleting data, it's good practice to warn the user by styling the button differently than the normal buttons. Give a button the class .negative and the hover-state will change to red

Code:

<a href="#" class="negative button">Divide by Zero</a>

Result:

Divide by Zero

Buttons with positive actions

If you have a button that triggers an action you want to encourage your users to do, you can give a button a .positive class and the hover-state will change to green

Code:

<a href="#" class="positive button">Save the World</a>

Result:

Save the World

Grouped buttons

You can create grouped buttons that are linked together, like seen at Gmail and other places, by using the .left, .middle and .right classes:

Code:

<a href="#" class="left primary button">Archive</a> 
<a href="#" class="middle button">Report Spam</a> 
<a href="#" class="right negative button">Delete</a>

Result:

ArchiveReport SpamDelete

You can also add the pill class to grouped buttons if preferred:

Code:

<a href="#" class="left primary pill button">Archive</a> 
<a href="#" class="middle pill button">Report Spam</a> 
<a href="#" class="right negative pill button">Delete</a>

Result:

ArchiveReport SpamDelete

Buttons with icons

CSS3 Buttons supports a wide range of icons that can easily be added to any button by adding a span tag inside the anchor tag with the class of .icon and any one of the provided icon classes:

Code:

<a href="#" class="button"><span class="magnifier icon"></span>Search</a>

Result:

Search

Here is a list of all the supported icon classes:

Class Example
.book View Log
.calendar Add to Calendar
.chat Start Chat
.check Approve Registration
.clock Register Work Time
.cog Settings
.comment Add Comment
.cross Remove Item
.downarrow Move Down
.fork Create Branch
.heart Add to Favorites
.home Back to Frontpage
.key Password Protect
.leftarrow Move Left
.lock Lock Article
.loop Resend Message
.magnifier Search
.mail Send Newsletter
.move Move
.pen Edit Post
.pin Pin to Map
.plus Add Post
.reload Reload Page
.rightarrow Move Right
.rss Subscribe to RSS Feed
.tag Add Tag
.trash Delete Post
.unlock Unlock Article
.uparrow Move Up
.user Add New User

Big buttons

If you wish to emphasize a specific action you can add the .big class to make a more prominent call-to-action button:

Code:

<a href="#" class="big button">Create Project</a>

Result:

Create Project

Browser compatibility

CSS3 Buttons works in all major browsers

Note: Some CSS3 features used in CSS3 Buttons is not supported in Internet Explorer browsers! (IE 8 and under)

Installation

  1. Drop css3buttons.css in your stylesheets folder
  2. Drop css3buttons_backgrounds.png and css3buttons_icons.png in your images folder
  3. Link to css3buttons.css in the head section of your HTML page (see code example below)

Code:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="stylesheets/css3buttons.css" media="screen">

CSS3 Buttons expects that some kind of CSS reset is in place in your project, otherwise the look might not be, as seen here

License

The Unlicense:

This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.

Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or distribute this software, either in source code form or as a compiled binary, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and by any means.

In jurisdictions that recognize copyright laws, the author or authors of this software dedicate any and all copyright interest in the software to the public domain. We make this dedication for the benefit of the public at large and to the detriment of our heirs and successors. We intend this dedication to be an overt act of relinquishment in perpetuity of all present and future rights to this software under copyright law.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

For more information, please refer to <http://unlicense.org/>

Shout-Outs

Contact

Found a Bug?

Please create a ticket on GitHub With a description of the problem, browser and operating system information and how to reproduce the problem.

Need Help?

You can send me a private message on GitHub and I'll do my best to help you.

Fork me on GitHub