I was recently asked to create a text link that would submit a form as part of a design for a client of mine. Through the process we eventually decided that using a text link is much more work and much less attractive then styling the button with CSS.

1. Using a text link to submit a form requires Javascript. If a visitor’s browser does not support Javascript the form will not function.
2. A text link is not very exciting. Text links do have high click through rates, but that does not apply to forms.
3. Creating a CSS styled button is easier and loads faster.
4. With creativity, a CSS styled button can be much more attractive

Here are a few simple examples to get started with.

Examples

To use simple add class=”buttonstyle” to any form for example.

<input class=”buttonstyle” type=”submit” value=”Submit” />

---

Button 1

Simple button

.buttonstyle {
background: #186DC2;
border: 1px solid #000000;
color: #FFFFFF;
}

---

Button 2

Simple button with rounded corners (not supported In IE)

.buttonstyle {
-moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 3px;
-moz-border-radius-bottomright: 4px;
-moz-border-radius-topleft: 3px;
-moz-border-radius-topright: 4px;
background: #186DC2;
border: 1px solid #000000;
color: #FFFFFF;
}

---

Button 3

Simple button with border

.buttonstyle {
background: #FFFFFF;
border: 1px solid #000000;
color: #000000;
}

---

Button 4

Text link button

.buttonstyle {
background: #FFFFFF;
color: #000000;
border: 1px solid #FFFFFF;
}

---

Button 5

Orange button with black border

.buttonstyle {
background: #F3BC2F;
color: #000000;
border: 1px solid #000000;
}

---

Button 6

Orange button with no border(inherits default border style)

.buttonstyle {
background: #F3BC2F;
color: #000000;
}

---

As you can see, with the proper styling, you can even create a button that will appear to be just like text. Of course it wont be text and you wont be able to select it, but I can not see a reason why you would need to anyways.

You can also use images and add hover effects to buttons as well, but I tend to feel that going that far is almost overkill. Plus IE doesn’t support :hover and requires a entire workaround to make it usable. If you are interested in using images or the hover effect I recommend you do a Google search to learn more details until I have more time to cover those options as well.

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