CODEWITHSUNDEEP
htmljqueryevent-handlinganchorjquery-events
sbr
sbr

Reputation: 4833

Any advantage of <a href="javascript:void(0);"> over <span> link text </span>

I have some HTML DOM elements for which I need to capture click events, like a drop-down menu widget, etc. I guess we can implement in 2 ways:

<a href="javascript:void(0);" id="option1">My text</a>

or another way is:

<span id="option2">My text 2</span>

In the second option, of course I can add CSS property cursor:pointer.

All I need is to capture the click event, for which I can have the same click handler function for both the cases.

Do you think there is any reason why we would use anchor tag method?

The second option looks more clean. Also, the IE has a default behavior for anchor tag click events, which can have unwanted consequences, etc.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1098

Answers (3)

grisevg
grisevg

Reputation: 250

For span look like an anchor you have to setup colors (standard and hover. And there'is no way to set Visited for it), underline and cursor:pointer. Still think it's cleaner?

Upvotes: 0

Johnny Oshika
Johnny Oshika

Reputation: 57552

Some benefits of the anchor tag:

  • you can provide a default behavior for users who don't have JavaScript enabled (if you care about that).
  • tabbing on the keyboard will set focus on anchor tags by default.
  • you get default styles that may be desirable on anchor tags.

Upvotes: 4

Ulrich Dangel
Ulrich Dangel

Reputation: 4625

Depends on what you need/want. Using links have the benefit they will be displayed as links (other color, different mouse cursor, possibility to search only for links, maybe accessibility issues, etc.)

Using spans does not do this but has other benefits like no different color if you activated or visited the link already.

That being said there is IMHO no real benefit for choosing either method probably depends if the text should be displayed/behave like a link or not.

Upvotes: 1

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