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Comment: Add Best Practice guidance from https://toronto.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CTWDS/pages/1375207461/Add+Best+Practice+to+Buttons

Status
colourGreen
titleDone

Buttons allow users to do something on the page. Image Removedpage. They are not meant for links to navigation to another page.

  • Buttons are used for actions "Submit", "Next", "Previous", "Cancel", "Find"

  • Links are used for navigation and usually appear within or following a sentence.

...

Types of buttons:

  • Default
  • Primary
  • Cancel/Destructive

Button Style

...

Primary Button:
Identifies the Button that the user must click to *continue* or *save* data.

There should only be at most one Primary (btn-primary) action button on a page; the goal is to guide the user to the preferred action.

Uses the btn-primary style

Cancel / Destructive Button:
Identifies the Button that if the User clicked the user entered data would be deleted, reverted to a previous version

Uses btn-cancel style.

Default:
Identifies any other button that is not Primary or Destructive

Uses btn-cancel style

Button Names

  • Buttons are an action, so always lead with a verb

  • To provide context, buttons should use {verb} + {noun}, example "Find Location"

  • Where context is clear, a single verb may be used, such as within a form, "Next" and "Previous" do not require a noun. Aria-labels may add additional context for screen readers.

  • Button text is written in title case.

Common Names

  • Search

  • Find Location

  • Next / Continue

  • Back / Previous

  • Submit {Noun} 

  • Cancel

Icons with buttons

Using icons inside a button are not part of the standard. There are exemptions for certain buttons, so the rules for use are documented here. New buttons should not use icons.

  • When icons are used, it should be combined with the button name and icons should be to the left of the name.

    Image Added
  • Icons should very rarely be on their own; an exception is where space is limited and an icon is recognizable in it’s function. Screen reader only text (or an Aria-Label) must be applied.

    Image Added

Accessibility

Button CSS

CSS Variables

Note: the values may change overtime, for latest values refer to Design Tokens (CSS Variables)

Code Block
languagecss
--font-size-default : 14px

...

;
--color-

...

focus: #E77600;
--border-radius : 4px;

--color-text-white :

...

 #ffffff

--color-primary-light: #337ab7;
--color-primary: #165788;
--color-primary-dark: #{$base};

--color-default: #6e787c;
--color-default-dark: #596063;

--color-cancel: #88161f;
--color-cancel-dark: #6e1219;

All Buttons

.button
Code Block
languagecss
title.button
sass
display: inline-block;
margin-bottom: 0;
font-weight: 400;
text-align: center;
white-space: nowrap;
vertical-align: middle;
-ms-touch-action: manipulation;
touch-action: manipulation;
cursor: pointer;
background: transparent;
background-image: none;
border: 1px solid transparent;
padding: 6px 12px;
font-size: var(--font-size-default);
line-height: 1.42857143;
border-radius: var(--border-radius);
user-select:none;
@extend %focus;

Default Button

...

.button--default
Code Block
languagesass
border: 1px solid var(--color-default);
  background-color: var(--color-white);
  color: var(--color-default);

   &:hover:hover{
 
    border-color: var(--color-default);
      background-color: var(--color-default);
 
    color: var(--color-text-white);

 }


 &:active, &[aria-pressed="true"]{
 
    @extend %pressed;
      background-color: var(--color-default-dark);
 
    color: var(--color-text-white);

 }


 &:disabled, &[aria-disabled="true"]{
 
    pointer-events: none;
 
    opacity: 0.4;

 }


 &:focus{

   border: 3px solid var(--color-focus);

   background: var(--color-focus);

   color: var(--color-text-white);


   &:hover{

     background: initial;

   }
  }

...

Primary Button

.button--primary
Code Block
languagecss
background-color: var(--color-primary);
border-color: var(--color-primary);
color: var(--color-text-

...

white);

&[aria-pressed="true"]{
    background-color: var(--color-primary-

...

dark);
    color: var(--color-text-

...

white);
}

&:disabled, &[aria-disabled="true"]{
    pointer-events: none;
    opacity: 0.4;
}

&:hover:hover, &:active{
    background-color: var(--color-primary-light);
    border-color: var(--color-primary-

...

light);
}

Cancel Button

.button--cancel
Code Block
languagecss
background-color: var(--color-

...

white);

...


border-color: var(--color-

...

cancel);
color: var(--color-cancel);   

&[aria-pressed="true"]{
    background-color: var(--color-

...

cancel-dark);

...


    color: var(--color-text-white);

...

  • Colour:
    • Default:
    • Hover:

...

  • Colour:
    • Default: #88161f
    • Hover: #88161f

When to use button large:

Spacing Between Buttons:

COTUI - Component Reference

https://cityoftoronto.github.io/COT_UI/?path=/story/2-components-button--all-buttons

...


}

&:disabled, &[aria-disabled="true"]{
    pointer-events: none;
    opacity: 0.4;
}

&:hover:hover, &:active{
    border-color: var(--color-cancel);
    background-color: var(--color-cancel);
    color: var(--color-text-white);
}