How to disable a link using only CSS?

Question

Is there any 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.

Answer 1

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>

Answer 2

Thanks to everyone that posted solutions, 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, 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 coffescript 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 js 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

Answer 3

you can use this css:

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>

Answer 4

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.)

Answer 5

I searched over 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': '' });

Checked on Firefox and IE 11, it worked.

Answer 6

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.