Making a button look like a link

[Steve Swift]

How close can you get to making a submit button look like a link?

Answers to the inevitable questions:

1. Because I don't want my email address (which would have to be part of
the URL in a real link) becoming obviously visible.
2. Because I'm limited for space and even a styled button takes too much
room.

--
Steve Swift

http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html

http://www.ringers.org.uk

[Nik Coughlin]

Re: Making a button look like a link

"Steve Swift" <Steve.J.Swift@ gmail.comwrote in message
news:483f70cd$1 @news.greennet. net...

How close can you get to making a submit button look like a link?
>
Answers to the inevitable questions:
>
1. Because I don't want my email address (which would have to be part of
the URL in a real link) becoming obviously visible.
2. Because I'm limited for space and even a styled button takes too much
room.
>
--
Steve Swift

http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html

http://www.ringers.org.uk

http://nrkn.com/buttonLink/

[Steve Swift]

Re: Making a button look like a link

Nik Coughlin wrote:

>How close can you get to making a submit button look like a link?

http://nrkn.com/buttonLink/

Thanks, Nik, that's close enough for me. For additional bonus points, is
there any way to have that inherit the appearance of the user's
preference when their links are not blue underlined?

I know I'm being greedy, but if I don't ask, I won't get.

I'll probably end up mixing these "forged" links and real links on the
same page. The only way I can think to make them consistent is to impose
my preference for link decoration on the users; something I'm reluctant
to do.

--
Steve Swift

http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html

http://www.ringers.org.uk

[Nik Coughlin]

Re: Making a button look like a link


"Steve Swift" <Steve.J.Swift@ gmail.comwrote in message
news:483fa1fb$1 @news.greennet. net...

Nik Coughlin wrote:

>>How close can you get to making a submit button look like a link?

>http://nrkn.com/buttonLink/

>
Thanks, Nik, that's close enough for me. For additional bonus points, is
there any way to have that inherit the appearance of the user's preference
when their links are not blue underlined?

No. Maybe there is some way to get the browser's default link colour with
JavaScript but there is no way to do that with just CSS.

I'll probably end up mixing these "forged" links and real links on the
same page. The only way I can think to make them consistent is to impose
my preference for link decoration on the users; something I'm reluctant to
do.

What you're doing is dubious enough as it is :P

Have you considered whether there are other ways to do this?

For example have an ordinary submit button instead. Hide it with JavaScript
and then just use a normal link which has its click event set to submit the
page. The vast majority of people who have JavaScript will get the effect
that you're after without diddling around trying to make a button look like
a link and the rest will still get a perfectly good working page but one
where the submit button looks like a submit button, and is that really such
a terrible thing? Or style the submit button for them too and put up with
having it be blue instead of their colour.

[Steve Swift]

Re: Making a button look like a link

Nik Coughlin wrote:

For example have an ordinary submit button instead. Hide it with
JavaScript and then just use a normal link which has its click event set
to submit the page.

So many choices. Fortunately I wrote http://www.swiftys.org.uk/decisions
last week with exactly this situation in mind (I've become indecisive
for medical reasons).

Thanks!

--
Steve Swift

http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html

http://www.ringers.org.uk

[dorayme]

Re: Making a button look like a link

In article <48402c31$1@new s.greennet.net> ,
Steve Swift <Steve.J.Swift@ gmail.comwrote:

So many choices. Fortunately I wrote http://www.swiftys.org.uk/decisions
last week with exactly this situation in mind (I've become indecisive
for medical reasons).

That's the page forcing the user to be indecisive. There seems no
mechanism to choose.

--
dorayme

[Steve Swift]

Re: Making a button look like a link

dorayme wrote:

That's the page forcing the user to be indecisive. There seems no
mechanism to choose.

There's no point wasting pixels/electrons on a "choose" button until
you've entered at least two choices, and the copious online help makes
this abundantly clear. :-)

Even I can chose when faced with only one option.

--
Steve Swift

http://www.swiftys.org.uk/swifty.html

http://www.ringers.org.uk

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Re: Making a button look like a link

Scripsit Steve Swift:

How close can you get to making a submit button look like a link?

Pretty close, on sunny days.

Answers to the inevitable questions:
>
1. Because I don't want my email address (which would have to be part
of the URL in a real link) becoming obviously visible.

Then you are surely creating problems instead of solving any.

2. Because I'm limited for space and even a styled button takes too
much room.

That's ridiculous. Fix the problem of having painted yourself in a
corner (creating the limitations you allude to) instead of hitting your
head on the wall and spoiling your page any more.

--
Jukka K. Korpela ("Yucca")

http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/