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Still hyped by the possibilities of CSS3, I want to share some CSS3 button experiments with you. The idea is to create some animated link elements with different styles, hover effects and active states.

The icons used in some of the examples are by webiconset.com and the symbol font is by Just Be Nice

We’ll go through every example and see how the HTML structure looks and what the styles for the normal, the hover and the active states are.

Please note that the animations/transitions will only work in browsers that support those CSS3 properties.

In order not to bloat the tutorial, I will not be using any CSS vendor prefixes. The downloadable files contain them, of course.

Example 1

In this example we will create a big button with several details in it. It will have an icon, a main text, an arrow on the right side and a price that will only appear when we hover.

Markup

The structure is pretty straightforward: the icon will be an image and the other elements will be spans:

<a href="#" class="a-btn">
	<span class="a-btn-slide-text">$29</span>
	<img src="images/icons/1.png" alt="Photos" />
	<span class="a-btn-text"><small>Available on the Apple</small> App Store</span>
	<span class="a-btn-icon-right"><span></span></span>
</a>

CSS

In the style we will make sure that the right transitions are set on the element that we want to animate on hover. The price will be invisible by setting its opacity to 0. Applying mulitple box shadows will allow us to create realistic effects:

.a-btn{
    background: linear-gradient(top, #a9db80 0%,#96c56f 100%);
    padding-left: 90px;
    padding-right: 105px;
    height: 90px;
    display: inline-block;
    position: relative;
    border: 1px solid #80ab5d;
    box-shadow:
		0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset,
		1px 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    border-radius: 4px;
    float: left;
    clear: both;
    margin: 10px 0px;
    overflow: hidden;
    transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn img{
    position: absolute;
    left: 15px;
    top: 13px;
    border: none;
    transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn .a-btn-slide-text{
    position: absolute;
    font-size: 36px;
    top: 18px;
    left: 18px;
    color: #6d954e;
    opacity: 0;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4);
    transition: opacity 0.2s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn-text{
    padding-top: 13px;
    display: block;
    font-size: 30px;
    text-shadow: 0px -1px 1px #80ab5d;
}
.a-btn-text small{
    display: block;
    font-size: 11px;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
}
.a-btn-icon-right{
    position: absolute;
    right: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    height: 100%;
    width: 80px;
    border-left: 1px solid #80ab5d;
    box-shadow: 1px 0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4) inset;
}
.a-btn-icon-right span{
    width: 38px;
    height: 38px;
    opacity: 0.7;
    border-radius: 20px;
    position: absolute;
    left: 50%;
    top: 50%;
    margin: -20px 0px 0px -20px;
    border: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.5);
    background: #4e5c50 url(../images/arrow_down.png) no-repeat center center;
    box-shadow:
        0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.3) inset,
        0px 1px 2px rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
    transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
}

When hovering over the buttons we will to change their box shadow and we’ll show the price and fade out the icon:

.a-btn:hover{
    box-shadow:
        0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset,
        1px 1px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
}
.a-btn:hover img{
    transform: scale(10);
    opacity: 0;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-slide-text,
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-icon-right span{
    opacity: 1;
}

The active state will make the button looked pressed with an inset shadow. The arrow icon on the right will be enlarged:

.a-btn:active {
    position:relative;
    top:1px;
    background:#80ab5d;
    box-shadow:1px 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.4) inset;
    border-color: #a9db80;
}
.a-btn:active .a-btn-icon-right span{
    transform: scale(1.4);
}

Example 2

The second example will be very similar to the first one, just that we’ll add some different effects.

Markup

The markup on this example will be the same like in example 1.

CSS

The styles are almost the same like in example 1, we will just adapt the colors. But, we will do something different on hover. We will make the price scale to its original size (before we have set it to 0) and the icon will disappear. The arrow span will get a red background color:

.a-btn:hover{
    box-shadow:
        0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset,
        1px 1px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
}
.a-btn:hover img{
    opacity: 0;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-slide-text{
    opacity: 1;
    transform: scale(1);
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-icon-right span{
    opacity: 1;
    background-color: #bc3532;
}

The active state will be the same like in the previous example. We will only change the colors. When we press the button, we will also rotate the arrow icon:

.a-btn:active {
    position: relative;
    top: 1px;
    background: #5d81ab;
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.4) inset;
    border-color: #80a9da;
}
.a-btn:active .a-btn-icon-right span{
    transform: rotate(360deg);
}

Example 3

In this example we will try something completely different. The button will expand down on hover and reveal another message. The arrow icon will slightly rotate.

Markup

The markup in example 3 will be slightly different than in the previous examples. The text that will slide down will be in the span with the class “a-btn-slide-text”:

<a href="#" class="a-btn">
	<span class="a-btn-text">Register now</span>
	<span class="a-btn-slide-text">Get a promotion</span>
	<span class="a-btn-icon-right"><span></span></span>
</a>

CSS

In the normal state the button is going to have a specific height that we’ll animate on hover in order to reveal the additional message. The additional message of “a-btn-slide-text” will be positioned absolutely and we will animate its height from 0 to 30px on hover.

.a-btn{
    background: linear-gradient(top, #feda71 0%,#febb4a 100%);
	border: 1px solid #f5b74e;
    border-color: #f5b74e #e5a73e #d6982f;
    box-shadow: 0 1px 1px #d3d3d3, inset 0 1px 0 #fee395;
    padding: 0px 80px 0px 10px;
	height: 38px;
	display: inline-block;
	position: relative;
	border-radius: 4px;
	float: left;
	margin: 10px;
	overflow: hidden;
	transition: all 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn-text{
	padding-top: 5px;
	display: block;
	font-size: 18px;
	white-space: nowrap;
	color: #996633;
    text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #fedd9b;
	transition: all 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn-slide-text{
	position:absolute;
	top: 35px;
	left: 0px;
	width: auto;
	right: 52px;
	height: 0px;
	background: #fff;
	color: #996633;
	font-size: 13px;
	white-space: nowrap;
	font-family: Georgia, serif;
	font-style: italic;
	text-indent: 15px;
	overflow: hidden;
	line-height: 30px;
	box-shadow:
		-1px 0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4),
		1px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.5) inset;
	transition: height 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn-icon-right{
	position: absolute;
	right: 0px;
	top: 0px;
	height: 100%;
	width: 52px;
	border-left: 1px solid #f5b74e;
	box-shadow: 1px 0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4) inset;
}
.a-btn-icon-right span{
	width: 38px;
	height: 38px;
	opacity: 0.7;
	position: absolute;
	left: 50%;
	top: 50%;
	margin: -20px 0px 0px -20px;
	background: transparent url(../images/arrow_right.png) no-repeat 50% 55%;
    transition: all 0.3s linear;
}

On hover we will change the heights of the button and the additional text element. We’ll also rotate the arrow icon 45 degrees:

.a-btn:hover{
	height: 65px;
	box-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset, 1px 1px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-text{
	text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
	color: #fff;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-slide-text{
	height: 30px;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-icon-right span{
	opacity: 1;
	transform: rotate(-45deg);
}

The active state will move the button a bit and adjust the colors so that the button seems pressed:

.a-btn:active {
	position:relative;
	top:1px;
	background: linear-gradient(top, #fec354 0%,#fecd61 100%); /* W3C */
    border-color: #d29a3a #cc9436 #c89133;
    text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #fee1a0;
    box-shadow: 0 1px 1px #d4d4d4, inset 0 1px 0 #fed17e;
}

Example 4

In example 4, we will slide out some additional message just like in the previous example, but we will do that horizontally to the right side. This will seem as if the button opens up to reveal the message inside.

Markup

The Markup of this example is the same like in the previous one.

CSS

Similar to the previous example, the button style will be the following. What we will change is the colors and the position of the additional text element:

.a-btn{
    background: linear-gradient(top, #80a9da 0%,#6f97c5 100%);
    padding-left: 20px;
    padding-right: 80px;
    height: 38px;
    display: inline-block;
    position: relative;
    border: 1px solid #5d81ab;
    box-shadow:
		0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset,
		1px 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2),
		0px 0px 0px 4px rgba(188,188,188,0.5);
    border-radius: 20px;
    float: left;
    clear: both;
    margin: 10px 0px;
    overflow: hidden;
    transition: all 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn-text{
    padding-top: 5px;
    display: block;
    font-size: 18px;
    white-space: nowrap;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.3);
    color: #446388;
    transition: all 0.2s linear;
}
.a-btn-slide-text{
    position:absolute;
    height: 100%;
    top: 0px;
    right: 52px;
    width: 0px;
    background: #63707e;
    text-shadow: 0px -1px 1px #363f49;
    color: #fff;
    font-size: 18px;
    white-space: nowrap;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    text-align: left;
    text-indent: 10px;
    overflow: hidden;
    line-height: 38px;
    box-shadow:
		-1px 0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4),
		1px 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.2) inset;
    transition: width 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn-icon-right{
    position: absolute;
    right: 0px;
    top: 0px;
    height: 100%;
    width: 52px;
    border-left: 1px solid #5d81ab;
    box-shadow: 1px 0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4) inset;
}
.a-btn-icon-right span{
    width: 38px;
    height: 38px;
    opacity: 0.7;
    position: absolute;
    left: 50%;
    top: 50%;
    margin: -20px 0px 0px -20px;
    background: transparent url(../images/arrow_right.png) no-repeat 50% 55%;
    transition: all 0.3s linear;
}

On hover we will increase the right padding of the button and also the width of the “a-btn-slide-text” span:

.a-btn:hover{
    padding-right: 180px;
    box-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset, 1px 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-text{
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px #5d81ab;
    color: #fff;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-slide-text{
    width: 100px;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-icon-right span{
    opacity: 1;
}

The active state will again look pressed with the help of an inset shadow and an additional pixel down:

.a-btn:active {
    position: relative;
    top: 1px;
    background: #5d81ab;
    box-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.4) inset;
    border-color: #80a9da;
}

Example 5

In this example we will be using a symbol font for the icons. The idea is to make the displayed icon disappear and show an arrow animation while hovering.

Markup

The structure will consist of 4 span elements inside of the button link. The span with the class “a-btn-slide-icon” will be the animated arrow that will move from up to down.

<a href="#" class="a-btn">
	<span class="a-btn-symbol">Z</span>
	<span class="a-btn-text">Download Now</span>
	<span class="a-btn-slide-text">Windows Vista / Windows 7</span>
	<span class="a-btn-slide-icon"></span>
</a>

CSS

Since we will be using a font to display the icons on the left side, we will have to include the font.
We will hide the arrow by setting it’s top value to -30px.

@font-face {
    font-family: 'WebSymbolsRegular';
    src: url('websymbols/websymbols-regular-webfont.eot');
    src: url('websymbols/websymbols-regular-webfont.eot?#iefix') format('embedded-opentype'),
        url('websymbols/websymbols-regular-webfont.woff') format('woff'),
        url('websymbols/websymbols-regular-webfont.ttf') format('truetype'),
        url('websymbols/websymbols-regular-webfont.svg#WebSymbolsRegular') format('svg');
    font-weight: normal;
    font-style: normal;
}
.a-btn{
    border-radius: 50px;
    padding: 10px 30px 10px 70px;
    position: relative;
    float:left;
    display: block;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 10px;
    background: linear-gradient(top, rgba(255,255,255,1) 0%,rgba(246,246,246,1) 74%,rgba(237,237,237,1) 100%);
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.2),
        0px 0px 0px 1px rgba(188,188,188,0.1);
    transition: box-shadow 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn-symbol{
    font-family: 'WebSymbolsRegular', cursive;
    color: #555;
    font-size: 20px;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
    position:absolute;
    left: 20px;
    line-height: 32px;
    transition: opacity 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn-text{
    font-size: 20px;
    color: #d7565b;
    line-height: 16px;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: "Myriad Pro", "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(255,255,255,0.5);
    display: block;
}
.a-btn-slide-text{
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
    font-size: 10px;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    color: #555;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.9);
}
.a-btn-slide-icon{
    position:absolute;
    top:-30px;
    width: 22px;
    height: 22px;
    background: transparent url(../images/arrow_down_black.png) no-repeat top left;
    left:20px;
    opacity: 0.4;
}

On hover we will fade out the icon on the left and play the animation for the arrow infinitely:

.a-btn:hover{
    background: #fff;
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 9px rgba(0,0,0,0.4),
        0px 0px 0px 1px rgba(188,188,188,0.1);
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-symbol{
    opacity: 0;
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-slide-icon{
    -webkit-animation: slideDown 0.9s linear infinite;
}

When pressing the button, we will make the button red and look pressed by giving it an inset shadow:

.a-btn:active{
    background: #d7565b;
    box-shadow:
        0px 2px 2px rgba(0,0,0,0.6) inset,
        0px 0px 0px 1px rgba(188,188,188,0.1);
}
.a-btn:active .a-btn-text{
    color: #fff;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);
}
.a-btn:active .a-btn-slide-text{
    color: rgba(0,0,0,0.4);
    text-shadow: none;
}

And finally, the simple animation for moving the arrow from up to down:

@keyframes slideDown {
    0% { top: -30px; }
    100% { top: 80px;}
}

Example 6

Let’s go wild here. Let’s do a circular button with a star in it! We will, of course, make the star rotate on hover (with slight pulse, oh yeah!) and make an additional text appear.

Markup

We will have three spans in our button link. The last one will be the hidden text that shows on hover.

<a href="#" class="a-btn">
	<span></span>
	<span>Sign up</span>
	<span>It's free!</span>
</a>

CSS

We’ll play a bit with nth-child in this example. Since we have 3 spans, we’ll need to address them as .a-btn span:nth-child(1), .a-btn span:nth-child(2) and .a-btn span:nth-child(3).

We’ll make the button circular and add some really fancy box shadows to it. In order to center the main text vertically, we will set its display to table-cell. The star and the hidden text will be positioned absolutely.

.a-btn{
    width: 120px;
    height: 120px;
    border-radius: 50%;
    display: block;
    margin: 20px;
    float: left;
    background: #f0ad4e;
    position: relative;
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 5px 0px rgba(246, 212, 163, 0.5) inset,
        0px -1px 5px 4px rgba(170, 77, 27, 0.2) inset,
        0px 0px 0px 7px #fff,
        0px 0px 1px 8px rgba(188, 188, 188, 0.4),
        0px 0px 0px 9px #fff;
    transition: all 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn span{
    display: table-cell;
    width: 80px;
    height: 80px;
    padding: 20px;
    text-align: center;
    vertical-align: middle;
    font-size: 26px;
    color: #fff;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px #A03F16;
    font-family: "Arvo", "Myriad Pro", "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
    transition: all 0.3s linear;
}
.a-btn span:nth-child(1),
.a-btn span:nth-child(3){
    position: absolute;
    top: 0px;
    left: 0px;
    font-size: 40px;
    line-height: 36px;
    opacity: 0;
}
.a-btn span:nth-child(1){
    background: transparent url(../images/star.png) no-repeat center center;
    opacity: 0.2;
}

On hover we will change the box shadow of the button so that it appears lifted. The hidden text will be faded in and we’ll apply the flyOut animation to the initial text. We’ll apply the rotate animation to the star:

.a-btn:hover{
    background: rgba(170, 77, 27, 0.6);
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 5px 0px rgba(246, 212, 163, 0.5) inset,
        0px -1px 5px 4px rgba(170, 77, 27, 0.2) inset,
        0px 0px 0px 7px #fff,
        1px 4px 5px 8px rgba(188, 188, 188, 0.6),
        0px 0px 0px 9px #fff;
}
.a-btn:hover span:nth-child(3){
    opacity: 1;
}
.a-btn:hover span:nth-child(2){
        transform: scale(0);
    opacity: 0;
}
.a-btn:hover span:nth-child(1){
    animation: rotate 1s linear;
}

Let’s make the button look pressed when clicking on it:

.a-btn:active{
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 5px 0px rgba(246, 212, 163, 0.5) inset,
        0px -1px 5px 4px rgba(170, 77, 27, 0.2) inset,
        0px 0px 0px 7px #fff,
        0px -1px 0px 8px rgba(188, 188, 188, 0.3),
        0px 0px 0px 10px #fff;
}
.a-btn:active span:nth-child(2){
    color: rgba(170, 77, 27, 0.8);
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.6);
}

The rotate/pulse animation looks as follows:

@-webkit-keyframes rotate{
    0% { transform: scale(1) rotate(0);}
    50% { transform: scale(0.5) rotate(180deg);}
    100% { transform: scale(1) rotate(360deg);}
}

Example 7

In the last example we’ll create a bit of a 3D look by the use of some nifty box shadow.

Markup

The structure will be the same like in example 5.

CSS

The style will be very similar to example 5, we’ll just adjust some colors and shadows:

.a-btn{
    border-radius: 10px;
    padding: 10px 30px 10px 70px;
    position: relative;
    float:left;
    display: block;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 10px;
    background: linear-gradient(top, #b7f2f4 0%,#7ce7ea 100%);
    border: 1px solid #90c6c8;
    border-color: #90c6c8 #78bdc0 #65b6ba;
    box-shadow:
		0px -5px 0px 0px #458a8c,
		0 1px 1px #d5d5d5,
		0 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.8) inset;
    transition: all 0.2s linear;
}
.a-btn-symbol{
    font-family: 'WebSymbolsRegular', cursive;
    color: #437b7d;
    text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #bef3f5;
    font-size: 20px;
    position:absolute;
    left: 20px;
    width: 20px;
    text-align: center;
    line-height: 32px;
    transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
}
.a-btn-text{
    font-size: 20px;
    color: #437b7d;
    text-shadow: 0 1px 0 #bef3f5;
    line-height: 16px;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: "Myriad Pro", "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;
    display: block;
}
.a-btn-slide-text{
    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
    font-size: 10px;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    color: #555;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.9);
}

On hover we will enlarge the button and rotate the little icon:

.a-btn:hover{
    transform: scale(1.05);
}
.a-btn:hover .a-btn-symbol{
    opacity: 0.5;
    transform: rotate(360deg);
}

When clicking the button, we will make the button smaller and press it by adjusting the box shadow:

.a-btn:active{
    transform: scale(0.95);
    box-shadow:
        0px 0px 0px 1px #458a8c,
        0 1px 1px #d5d5d5, inset 0 1px 0 rgba(255,255,255,0.8),
        0px 1px 1px 2px #fff;
}

And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed creating some crazy buttons with CSS3 and got inspired!

Some References

Add to Cart Buttons (PSD)
Simple CSS3 Button
Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator

View demo Download source

Here is an awesome little slide out button. The inspiration for that button came from photoshop.com where Flash is used to create a nice slide out effect. This button does not behave exactly the same, but the effect is quite neat. It does not use any images and uses the border radius property to make the rounded borders.

The button consists of three parts: a container, the little button and the longer button. The two inner parts have absolute positioning. With jQuery, we enlarge the long button and change the colors of the small one.

Enjoy it!

View demoDownload source

Click to see a DEMO of the button

Download the zip with all the containing files here: JButton

The style for the button consists of the following classes:

a.jbutton{
 background: transparent url(buttonleft.png) no-repeat top left;
 display: block;
 float: left;
 font: 22px "Tahoma";
 line-height: 49px; /* This value + 8px should equal height of the button */
 height: 57px;
 padding-left: 9px; /* Left part of image */
 text-decoration: none;
 outline:none;
 color:white;
 cursor:pointer;
 filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(opacity=100);
 opacity: 1;
 -moz-opacity: 0.99;
}
a.jbutton span{
 background: transparent url(buttonright.png) no-repeat top right;
 display: block;
 padding: 4px 9px 6px 0; /*Set right padding here to 'padding-left' value above*/
 text-shadow: -1px 0 black, 0 1px black, 1px 0 black, 0 -1px black;
}
a.jbutton:link, a.jbutton:visited{
 color: #F0F0F0; /* button text color */
}
a.jbutton:hover{
 filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(opacity=80);
 opacity: 0.8;
 -moz-opacity: 0.8;
}
a.jbutton:hover span{
 color: #FFFFFF;
}

We have two images, the left and the right side of the button. Depending on the size of the text, the button will expand (up to 200px).

I also added some text shadow which will not work in IE though.

The html is very simple:

<a class="jbutton"><span> &#157; Ask a question</span></a>

The special character is a the question mark which I just added for fun.

Enjoy!