CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmlcss
RSK
RSK

Reputation: 17516

How to disable a link using only CSS

Is there a way to disable a link using CSS?

I have a class called current-page and want links with this class to be disabled so that no action occurs when they are clicked.

Upvotes: 949

Views: 1446229

Answers (27)

Simone
Simone

Reputation: 21282

A modern solution is to use the HTML inert attribute. Here's an example:

a[inert] {
  color: #666;
}
<a href="#a">Home</a>
<a href="#b" inert>About</a>
<a href="#c">Contact</a>

Tabbing through the links works as intended, skipping the disabled link.

Find more info about the inert property here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement/inert

Upvotes: 1

user128511
user128511

Reputation:

Most of the answers on this page are wrong. You can not disable a link with css, period, at least as of November 2023.

You can make it so you can't click the link with the mouse but you can still tab to the link and press return and the link will be "clicked"

Example:

document.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(button => {
  button.addEventListener('click', (e) => console.log(e.target.textContent));
});
a {
    pointer-events: none;
}
<li><a href="#a">link A</a>
<li><a href="#b">link B</a>
<li><a href="#c">link C</a>

enter image description here

2 imperfect solutions

  1. you could add tabIndex="-1" and then you can't tab to the link.

    Of course if you pre add it then you've disabled the link for keyboard users. If you add it at runtime then you aren't disabling the link via CSS

  2. make a fake link element for each link, via CSS hide one or the other

document.querySelectorAll('a').forEach(button => {
  button.addEventListener('click', (e) => console.log(e.target.textContent));
});

const container = document.querySelector('#container');

document.querySelector('button').addEventListener('click', () => {
  container.classList.toggle('disable-links');
});
.disabled-link {
  text-decoration: underline;
  opacity: 25%;
}

.links .disabled-link {
  display: none;
}

.disable-links .disabled-link {
  display: initial;
}

.disable-links a {
  display: none;
}
<div id="container" class="links">
<li><a href="#a">link A</a><span class="disabled-link">link A</span>
<li><a href="#b">link B</a><span class="disabled-link">link B</span>
<li><a href="#c">link C</a><span class="disabled-link">link C</span>
</div>


<button type="button">enable/disable links</button>

Upvotes: 0

easeout
easeout

Reputation: 8734

CSS can't disable a link. It can inhibit pointer events like clicks, but clicks are not the only way to activate a link. Your options are:

  • Don't include the href or onclick attributes in your <a> tag.
  • Use document.querySelector et al to find the anchor elements you want to disable. Remove their href or onclick attributes so they no longer have link behavior that can be activated by any method.

Upvotes: 36

Arjunsingh thakur
Arjunsingh thakur

Reputation: 174

simply use your tab without a link, don't include any link attribute to it.

Upvotes: -3

CodAIK
CodAIK

Reputation: 763

body{
  font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
  font-weight: 500;
}
a.disable{
  pointer-events: none;
  color: black;
  text-decoration: none;
}
<a href="https://example.com">Normal</a>
<a href="https://example.com" class="disable">Disable</a>

Upvotes: 3

Viplav Soni
Viplav Soni

Reputation: 1727

Apply the below class on HTML.

.avoid-clicks {
  pointer-events: none;
}

Upvotes: 14

air5
air5

Reputation: 170

Another trick is to place a invisible element above it. This will disable any hover effects as well

.myButton{
    position: absolute;
    display: none;
}

.myButton::after{
    position: absolute;
    content: "";
    height: 100%;
    width: 100%;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
}

Upvotes: 0

Pablo Molina
Pablo Molina

Reputation: 325

I used:

.current-page a:hover {
    pointer-events: none !important;
}

And that was not enough; in some browsers it still displayed the link, blinking.

I had to add:

.current-page a {
    cursor: text !important;
}

Upvotes: 13

user8903269
user8903269

Reputation:

It's possible to do it in CSS:

.disabled{
  cursor: default;
  pointer-events: none;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: black;
}
<a href="https://www.google.com" target="_blank" class="disabled">Google</a>

See at:

Please note that the text-decoration: none; and color: black; is not needed, but it makes the link look more like plain text.

Upvotes: 0

Nikki
Nikki

Reputation: 441

pointer-events:none will disable the link:

.disabled {
    pointer-events: none;
}

<a href="#" class="disabled">link</a>

Upvotes: -1

GuCier
GuCier

Reputation: 7425

If you want it to be CSS only, the disabling logic should be defined by CSS.

To move the logic in the CSS definitions, you'll have to use attribute selectors. Here are some examples:

Disable link that has an exact href: =

You can choose to disable links that contain a specific href value like so:

<a href="//website.com/exact/path">Exact path</a>

[href="//website.com/exact/path"]{
  pointer-events: none;
}

Disable a link that contains a piece of path: *=

Here, any link containing /keyword/in path will be disabled:

<a href="//website.com/keyword/in/path">Contains in path</a>

[href*="/keyword/"]{
  pointer-events: none;
}

Disable a link that begins with: ^=

The [attribute^=value] operator targets an attribute that starts with a specific value. It allows you to discard websites and root paths.

<a href="//website.com/begins/with/path">Begins with path</a>

[href^="//website.com/begins/with"]{
  pointer-events: none;
}

You can even use it to disable non-https links. For example:

a:not([href^="https://"]){
  pointer-events: none;
}

Disable a link that ends with: $=

The [attribute$=value] operator targets an attribute that ends with a specific value. It can be useful to discard file extensions.

<a href="/path/to/file.pdf">Link to pdf</a>

[href$=".pdf"]{
  pointer-events: none;
}

Or any other attribute

CSS can target any HTML attribute. Could be rel, target, data-customand so on...

<a href="#" target="_blank">Blank link</a>

[target=_blank]{
  pointer-events: none;
}

Combining attribute selectors

You can chain multiple rules. Let's say that you want to disable every external link, but not those pointing to your website:

a[href*="//"]:not([href*="my-website.com"]) {
    pointer-events: none;
}

Or disable links to pdf files of a specific website :

<a href="//website.com/path/to/file.jpg">Link to image</a>

[href^="//website.com"][href$=".jpg"] {
  color: red;
}

Browser support

Attributes selectors have been supported since Internet Explorer 7. And the :not() selector since Internet Explorer 9.

Upvotes: 13

Alireza
Alireza

Reputation: 104890

The pointer-events property allows for control over how HTML elements respond to mouse/touch events – including CSS hover/active states, click/tap events in JavaScript, and whether or not the cursor is visible.

That's not the only way you disable a link, but it is a good CSS way which work in Internet Explorer 10 (and later) and all new browsers:

.current-page {
  pointer-events: none;
  color: grey;
}
<a href="#" class="current-page">This link is disabled</a>

Upvotes: 5

javad shariaty
javad shariaty

Reputation: 999

You can use this CSS content:

a.button,button {
    display: inline-block;
    padding: 6px 15px;
    margin: 5px;
    line-height: 1.42857143;
    text-align: center;
    white-space: nowrap;
    vertical-align: middle;
    -ms-touch-action: manipulation;
    touch-action: manipulation;
    cursor: pointer;
    -webkit-user-select: none;
    -moz-user-select: none;
    -ms-user-select: none;
    user-select: none;
    background-image: none;
    border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);
    border-radius: 4px;
    -moz-box-shadow: inset 0 3px 20px 0 #cdcdcd;
    -webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 3px 20px 0 #cdcdcd;
    box-shadow: inset 0 3px 20px 0 #cdcdcd;
}

a[disabled].button,button[disabled] {
    cursor: not-allowed;
    opacity: 0.4;
    pointer-events: none;
    -webkit-touch-callout: none;
}

a.button:active:not([disabled]),button:active:not([disabled]) {
    background-color: transparent !important;
    color: #2a2a2a !important;
    outline: 0;
    -webkit-box-shadow: inset 0 3px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
    box-shadow: inset 0 3px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, .5);
}
<button disabled="disabled">disabled!</button>
<button>click me!</button>
<a href="http://royansoft.com" disabled="disabled" class="button">test</a>
<a href="http://royansoft.com" class="button">test2</a>

Upvotes: 3

Faisal Mq
Faisal Mq

Reputation: 5554

I searched the Internet and found no better than this. Basically, to disable button click functionality, just add CSS style using jQuery like so:

$("#myLink").css({ 'pointer-events': 'none' });

Then to enable it again, do this

$("#myLink").css({ 'pointer-events': '' });

It was checked on Firefox and Internet Explorer 11, and it worked.

Upvotes: 4

kross
kross

Reputation: 3771

I combined multiple approaches to provide some more advanced disabled functionality. Here is a gist, and the code is below.

This provides for multiple levels of defense so that anchors marked as disable actually behave as such.

Using this approach, you get an anchor that you cannot:

  • click
  • tab to and hit return
  • tabbing to it will move focus to the next focusable element
  • it is aware if the anchor is subsequently enabled

 

  1. Include this CSS content, as it is the first line of defense. This assumes the selector you use is 'a.disabled'.

    a.disabled {
  pointer-events: none;
  cursor: default;
}

  2. Next, instantiate this class such as (with optional selector):

     $ ->
   new AnchorDisabler()

    Here is the CoffeeScript class:

     class AnchorDisabler
   constructor: (selector = 'a.disabled') ->
     $(selector).click(@onClick).keyup(@onKeyup).focus(@onFocus)

   isStillDisabled: (ev) =>
     ### since disabled can be a class or an attribute, and it can be dynamically removed, always recheck on a watched event ###
     target = $(ev.target)
     return true if target.hasClass('disabled')
     return true if target.attr('disabled') is 'disabled'
     return false

   onFocus: (ev) =>
     ### if an attempt is made to focus on a disabled element, just move it along to the next focusable one. ###
     return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

     focusables = $(':focusable')
     return unless focusables

     current = focusables.index(ev.target)
     next = (if focusables.eq(current + 1).length then focusables.eq(current + 1) else focusables.eq(0))

     next.focus() if next


   onClick: (ev) =>
     # disabled could be dynamically removed
     return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

     ev.preventDefault()
     return false

   onKeyup: (ev) =>

     # 13 is the JavaScript key code for Enter. We are only interested in disabling that, so get out fast
     code = ev.keyCode or ev.which
     return unless code is 13

     # disabled could be dynamically removed
     return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

     ev.preventDefault()
     return false

Upvotes: 2

Benk
Benk

Reputation: 1312

Try this:

<style>
    .btn-disable {
        display: inline-block;
        pointer-events: none;
    }
</style>

Upvotes: 7

RSK
RSK

Reputation: 17516

From this solution:

[aria-current="page"] {
  pointer-events: none;
  cursor: default;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: black;
}
<a href="link.html" aria-current="page">Link</a>

For browser support, please see https://caniuse.com/#feat=pointer-events. If you need to support Internet Explorer, there is a workaround; see this answer.

Warning: The use of pointer-events in CSS for non-SVG elements is experimental. The feature used to be part of the CSS 3 UI draft specification but, due to many open issues, has been postponed to CSS 4.

Upvotes: 1457

fyjham
fyjham

Reputation: 7034

One way you could do this with CSS, would be to set a CSS on a wrapping div that you set to disappear and something else takes its place.

For example:

<div class="disabled">
    <a class="toggleLink" href="wherever">blah</a>
    <span class="toggleLink">blah</span
</div>

With a CSS like

.disabled a.toggleLink { display: none; }
span.toggleLink { display: none; }
.disabled span.toggleLink { display: inline; }

To actually turn off the a, you'll have to replace its click event or href, as described by others.

PS: Just to clarify, I'd consider this a fairly untidy solution, and for SEO it's not the best either, but I believe it's the best with purely CSS.

Upvotes: 10

nickf
nickf

Reputation: 546443

CSS can only be used to change the style of something. The best you could probably do with pure CSS is to hide the link altogether.

What you really need is some JavaScript code. Here's how you'd do what you want using the jQuery library.

$('a.current-page').click(function() { return false; });

Upvotes: 124

Xinus
Xinus

Reputation: 30563

You can set the href attribute to javascript:void(0):

.disabled {
  /* Disabled link style */
  color: black;
}
<a class="disabled" href="javascript:void(0)">LINK</a>

Upvotes: 24

Pramod Lawate
Pramod Lawate

Reputation: 1127

You can try this also

<style>
.btn-disable {
  pointer-events: none !important;
    color: currentColor;
    cursor: not-allowed;
    opacity: 0.6;
    text-decoration: none;       
}
</style>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>NG</title>
    </head>
    <style>
        .btn-disable {
          pointer-events: none !important;
            color: currentColor;
            cursor: not-allowed;
            opacity: 0.6;
            text-decoration: none;       
        }
        </style>
    <body>
        <div class="btn-disable">
            <input type="button" value="Show">
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

Upvotes: 0

Rudra
Rudra

Reputation: 555

<a href="#!">1) Link With Non-directed url</a><br><br>

<a href="#!" disabled >2) Link With with disable url</a><br><br>

Upvotes: -2

Jigar Bhatt
Jigar Bhatt

Reputation: 4680

Bootstrap Disabled Link

<a href="#" class="btn btn-primary btn-lg disabled" role="button">Primary link</a>

<a href="#" class="btn btn-default btn-lg disabled" role="button">Link</a>

Bootstrap Disabled Button but it looks like link

<button type="button" class="btn btn-link">Link</button>

Upvotes: 31

Amir Keshavarz
Amir Keshavarz

Reputation: 2644

.disabled {
  pointer-events: none;
  cursor: default;
  opacity: 0.6;
}
<a href="#" class="disabled">link</a>

Upvotes: 162

Suresh Pattu
Suresh Pattu

Reputation: 6219

Demo here
Try this one

$('html').on('click', 'a.Link', function(event){
    event.preventDefault();
});

Upvotes: 1

Tor Iver Wilhelmsen
Tor Iver Wilhelmsen

Reputation: 54

You can also size another element so that it covers the links (using the right z-index): That will "eat" the clicks.

(We discovered this by accident because we had an issue with suddenly inactive links due to "responsive" design causing a H2 to cover them when the browser window was mobile-sized.)

Upvotes: 1

Hidden
Hidden

Reputation: 7492

If you want to stick to just HTML/CSS on a form, another option is to use a button. Style it and set the disabled attribute.

E.g. http://jsfiddle.net/cFTxH/1/

Upvotes: 10

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