Variations

Primary

Use for highest-priority actions that are required to complete the user’s task.

• Use a primary button only once per page, though an additional primary button can appear within Modals, Popovers, or Notifications when needed to signal critical actions.

Secondary

Use for non-critical actions.

• Use for most buttons triggering non-critical actions, such as back, cancel, adding or creating an object.

Flat

Use for tertiary actions.

Flat, No Background

Replaces Flat, Deprecated by reducing padding and removing rounded corners on left and right edges.

Flat, Deprecated, to be removed in v2.0.0.

Use Flat, No Background variation instead.

With Icon

Add Icons to provide additional affordance to a button.

• Only place an Icon to the left of a button's label to emphasize meaning.
• Only place an Icon to the right of a button's label to trigger a Menu or imply directionality.

Icon Only

Use for toolbars and displays where words won't comfortably fit alongside icons.

• Only use when the Icon’s meaning is unambiguous.
• For toolbars of multiple Icons, use the Button Group component to ensure spacing between icons.
• Use with Icon remove or remove--s to close Modals, Notifications, and Tooltip prompts.
• Use with Icon remove or remove--s to remove an item from a list.

Sizing

Configure button size and icon size independently within the button.

Button Size

Each button variation allows for small, medium, and large sizes. The default size is medium, and you can use modifier classes to make the button smaller (mds-button--small) or larger (mds-button--large).

• Use small buttons in toolbars and Popover and Menu headers.
• Never apply the mds-button--large to an Icon-Only button.

Icon Size

Icon size depends on button type and size. In some cases, markup requires a modifier class to display the correct icon size based on a button’s size.

• By default, Primary, Secondary, and Flat buttons display a small icon.
• Apply the .mds-button--icon-m class to a large Primary, large Secondary, and large or medium Flat button to display a medium-sized icon.
• Never use --s sized icon SVGs when including .mds-button--icon-m to size the icon.
• Never apply .mds-button--icon-m to a medium or small Primary or Secondary button or small Icon-Only or Flat button.
• The Icon-Only button applies the correct icon size based the button’s size. A medium-sized Icon-Only button displays a medium-sized icon, and a small-sized Icon-Only button displays a small-sized icon.

Guidelines

Use When

• Affording interaction to key behaviors and features.
• Confirming or submitting information entered into a Form.
• Cancelling an action.
• Resetting a form or dataset.
• Closing a container or section.
• Opening a Menu.
• Moving forward or backward through a wizard-type workflow.
• Creating an object within a group.
• Applying a non-critical action to a dataset.

Don′t Use When

• Displaying a collection of links to sections. Use Links instead.
• Linking to an external site. Use Links instead.

Visual Language

Editorial

• Label a button with a verb, like “Copy”, or verb-phrase, like “Copy Document”.
• Strive for short button labels that clearly describe an action.
• Avoid lengthy button labels that risk wrapping, particularly in responsive settings.

Accessibility

• Use a <button> element type when displaying buttons.
• Do not use div or span unless strictly required, such as when using the sort buttons in Data Tables.
• An <a> element cannot be triggered from a spacebar press, only from an enter or return press.
• It is expected that a button can be triggered by pressing spacebar, enter, or return.
• Always include a <title> tag on the svg within an icon-only button to describe the button’s intent for icon-only buttons. See Iconography accessibility section.

Code Reference

CSS Class References