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[Bug 1387412] Re: Eliminate links-that-look-like-buttons & buttons-that-look-like-links

 

I don't think having links disguised as buttons is a bad thing - just as
long as they genuinely link to another page. From the accessibility
guidelines as quoted above (paraphrased): "Use a link if you're
navigating to a predefined page or section; use a button if you're
changing information or state"

For example, the "New collection" button creates a new collection *by
taking you to the 'Edit collection' page* - I think for a screen reader
(for example) styling it as a link makes sense.

>From articles like http://formidablelabs.com/blog/2014/05/08/anchors-
buttons-and-accessibility/ and http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/05/14
/links-are-not-buttons-neither-are-divs-and-spans/ it looks like the
main problem is links which *act* like buttons, regardless of what they
look like, so surely buttons which act like links would be just as
confusing?

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1387412

Title:
  Eliminate links-that-look-like-buttons & buttons-that-look-like-links

Status in Mahara ePortfolio:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  Mahara contains quite a few HTML links (<a> tags) that are styled to
  look like buttons. It may also contain some buttons (<input> tags and
  <button> tags) that are styled to look like links.

  These interfere with our ability to write automated tests, and they're
  bad for accessibility. As the Mahara accessibility checklist says:

  "Use buttons and links consistently.
  -  Use a link if you're navigating to a predefined page or section (navigation, tabs, etc.)
  -  Use a button if you're changing information or state (submitting a form, editing or deleting content, searching, etc.)"

  From
  https://wiki.mahara.org/index.php/Developer_Area/Accessibility_Checklist#Forms

  To facilitate this, we should write a PHP function (and Dwoo tag) that
  allows you to create a "link button", i.e. a button that, when
  clicked, simply takes you to a specified URL. Then we can
  systematically locate all the links-that-look-like-buttons and replace
  them with actual buttons using this functionality.

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References