Your website online is filled with issues other people can click on. Menus, buttons, icons, banners, and shape submits. They are able to glance equivalent, however the HTML beneath tells browsers, display readers, and serps what each and every component if truth be told is.
With Divi 5, you’ll be able to regulate that which means at once within the builder the usage of Semantic Elements and Custom Attributes. On this submit, you are going to be informed the sensible rule for opting for hyperlinks vs buttons, plus actual Divi 5 examples you’ll be able to reproduction into your personal layouts.
Buttons vs Hyperlinks: The Distinction Defined
Hyperlinks and buttons can glance the similar, however they do other jobs on your code.
A hyperlink makes use of the <a> tag with an href characteristic. It issues to a URL. Click on it, and you progress to a brand new web page, a unique segment, or an exterior website online. A button makes use of the <button> tag for in-page movements. You’ll be able to additionally follow position=”button” to a non-button component, however then it will have to be focusable and toughen keyboard activation so it behaves like an actual button. Click on it, and one thing occurs proper the place you might be: a sort submits, a modal opens, content material toggles, a menu seems.
| Component | Tag | Function | Keyboard Activation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperlink | <a href=”…”> | Navigation to some other location | Input key |
| Button | <button> or position=”button” | Motion on present web page | Area bar or Input key |
Each will also be styled to seem equivalent. CSS could make a hyperlink seem like a button and a button seem like a hyperlink. The visible remedy doesn’t exchange what the component if truth be told does underneath the skin.
Why Does The Difference Topic?
Search engines like google and yahoo essentially uncover and move slowly pages through extracting URLs from hyperlinks with href attributes. If key navigation is constructed as buttons with JavaScript handlers as a substitute of hyperlinks, the ones locations are some distance much less dependable for discovery and inside linking, which will harm crawling and indexing protection.
Display screen readers let customers soar between components through kind. Somebody navigating your website online can pull up each and every hyperlink to look the place they may be able to move or each and every button to look what movements they may be able to take. Mark navigation as a button, and it vanishes from the hyperlinks checklist. Mark a sort put up as a hyperlink, and assistive era proclaims it mistaken, telling customers they’re going someplace after they’re no longer.
Keyboard conduct differs, too. Buttons reply to Area and Input. Hyperlinks simplest reply to Input. Taste a hyperlink to seem like a button, and keyboard customers hit Area anticipating one thing to occur. Not anything does. For those who use position=”button” on a non-button component, make it focusable (tabindex=”0&Top;) and make sure it turns on with each Input and Area so it suits local button conduct.
The mismatch breaks person expectancies, wastes move slowly assets, and creates accessibility obstacles that local semantic components remedy robotically.
Introducing Divi 5’s Semantic Parts
Semantic Elements in Divi 5 put regulate over your HTML markup at once within the builder. You don’t want customized code or plugins to change a div for a button tag or upload ARIA labels to support accessibility. The gear take a seat proper within the settings panel the place you’re already operating.
Each module will get an HTML choice crew within the Complex tab. Open it, and also you’ll in finding Component Sort on the most sensible. That dropdown allows you to exchange any component’s underlying tag. Wrap a gaggle of hyperlinks in a <nav> component for clearer navigation semantics. Make a container a header. Convert an icon right into a right kind button. The styling remains the similar. The semantic which means shifts.
Component Sort controls what your modules develop into within the code. A Button Module styled to seem clickable can keep as a hyperlink when it navigates someplace, or develop into a real button when it plays an motion. You’re deciding this prematurely as a substitute of accepting no matter default Divi chooses.
Customized Attributes Upload Any other Layer
Custom Attributes take a seat slightly under Component Sort in that very same panel. This instrument handles ARIA roles, information attributes, and keyboard center of attention controls. The rest that tells browsers and assistive era how your components serve as is going right here. You pick out what you’re focused on, title the characteristic, and set the worth.
Button and hyperlink markup get exact with this selection. Component Sort would possibly flip your Icon Module right into a button tag, however Customized Attributes allows you to goal a Touch Shape put up so as to add such things as aria-label, information attributes, or monitoring hooks with out converting the shape construction. Typically, the put up is already an actual button, so that you normally don’t want position=”button”.
Each gear paintings within the Visible Builder. You construct the design, then outline what the entirety manner in the similar interface. They come up with whole regulate over whether or not one thing acts as navigation or plays an motion at the web page.
How To Get entry to Those Settings In Any Module
Open any module’s settings panel and click on the Complex tab. You’ll see two new choice teams close to the highest: Attributes and HTML.

HTML comprises Component Sort. Click on the dropdown to look all to be had semantic tags. Pick out one, and Divi swaps the default wrapper tag for no matter you decided on. The module seems to be the similar for your web page. The code beneath displays the real function of that component.
Attributes take care of the entirety else. Click on Upload Characteristic to start out. You’ll get fields for Goal Component, Characteristic Title, and Characteristic Worth. Characteristic Title is the place you kind what you’re including: position, aria-label, data-tracking, no matter you wish to have. Characteristic Worth is what you’re environment it to.

Component Sort swaps the module wrapper tag. Set an Icon Module’s Component Sort to <button>, and it turns into an actual button within the markup. Customized Attributes move deeper. They aim items within modules with out touching the wrapper itself.

A Touch Shape Module comprises enter fields, labels, and a put up button. All of that sits within one wrapper. You don’t wish to flip all the shape right into a button tag. You wish to have to focus on simply the put up component. Typically, it’s already an actual button, so that you normally don’t want position=”button”. That’s the place Customized Attributes are available. Pick out the Button from the Goal Component, upload the position, and also you’re executed.

Infrequently you’ll use each. An Icon Module opening a popup will get Component Sort set to button for the wrapper. You then upload aria-label thru Customized Attributes to inform display readers what clicking it does. Two gear, one component, whole regulate.
Each choices save with the module. Exchange your thoughts later, and you’ll be able to edit or take away them anytime. Additionally they paintings with Option Group Presets, so you’ll be able to package deal a collection of attributes in combination and reuse them throughout your website online with out rebuilding the setup each and every time.

When To Use The Button Tag
Use button tags for movements that occur at the similar web page. Shape submissions, content material toggles, popup triggers, and modal home windows all require the <button> tag or the position=”button” characteristic added by the use of Customized Attributes. Those components carry out operations with out taking guests elsewhere:
| Component Sort | Button Tag Utilization |
|---|---|
| Shape Submissions | Touch shape put up, publication signup put up, seek put up |
| Content material Toggles | FAQ accordions, display/conceal sections, expandable panels |
| Modal Triggers | Popup home windows, lightboxes, conversation packing containers |
| Interface Controls | Clear out buttons, kind controls, tab switchers |
| Menu Movements | Cell menu open/shut, dropdown triggers |
Button movements can be within modules with a couple of portions. A Touch Shape Module comprises enter fields, labels, and a put up button, all inside a unmarried wrapper. You want to focus on simply the put up component.
Click on Upload Characteristic, and also you’ll see Goal Component with a dropdown appearing each and every element within that module. Choose Button, upload position because the characteristic title, and button as the worth.
The similar method works for Electronic mail Optin Modules, seek bureaucracy, and anyplace else a sort wishes to accomplish an motion. You’re marking simply the interactive component, no longer all the module construction. This precision helps to keep your markup blank and your accessibility correct.
Opting for Between Component Sort And Customized Attributes
The honour comes all the way down to what you’re focused on. Component Sort adjustments all the module wrapper. Customized Attributes drill into explicit items.
Use Component Sort when all the module plays a unmarried motion. An Icon Module opening a modal will have its Component Sort set to button. All of the icon is handled as a <button> within the code. You want to additionally use position=”button” thru Customized Attributes, however Component Sort is quicker while you’re converting the entire wrapper anyway. Use position=”button” simplest when you’ll be able to’t output an actual <button>, and ensure keyboard conduct is supported.
Use Customized Attributes when modules have a couple of portions. An Electronic mail Optin Module has an enter box and a put up button. You don’t need the enter marked as a button. Simply the put up component wishes the position=”button” characteristic. Goal that piece thru Customized Attributes and go away the entirety else by myself.
A Few Examples
- A touch shape put up must be an actual <button> (or enter kind=”put up”). Use Customized Attributes for aria-label or monitoring if wanted.
- E-newsletter signup shape submissions must use actual buttons. Upload aria-label the place the visual textual content isn’t explicit sufficient.
- An Icon Module that opens a pricing comparability modal has its Component Sort set to button. All of the icon turns into clickable with right kind semantics.
- Toggle buttons that display and conceal FAQ solutions have the position=”button” characteristic. Content material expands and collapses with out leaving the web page.
- Clear out buttons on a portfolio web page sorting tasks through class want position=”button”. The web page content material updates are in position.
- Video play buttons masking thumbnail photographs want the position=”button” characteristic. They begin playback in an embedded participant or lightbox.
When To Use The Hyperlink Tag
Use hyperlink tags for all navigation. Your website online menu, footer hyperlinks, weblog submit titles, inside web page connections, and exterior references. The rest that takes a customer someplace new wishes the <a> tag with an href characteristic pointing to that vacation spot:
| Component Sort | Hyperlink Tag Utilization |
|---|---|
| Website Navigation | Menu pieces, footer hyperlinks, breadcrumbs |
| Content material Hyperlinks | Weblog submit titles, “Learn Extra” buttons, comparable articles |
| Anchor Hyperlinks | #touch, #pricing, same-page segment jumps |
| Exterior References | Outbound hyperlinks to different web pages, assets |
| Report Downloads | PDFs, paperwork, media information with obtain characteristic |
Google follows hyperlinks with href values. That’s how pages get crawled and listed. Set your navigation as buttons as a substitute, and serps gained’t in finding the ones pages. They keep invisible to natural seek.
Divi’s Button Module already makes use of the <a> tag through default. Sort a URL into the hyperlink box, and also you’re executed. The Button Module describes the way, no longer the tag. When it hyperlinks someplace, it outputs an <a> component.
Display screen readers announce hyperlinks otherwise from buttons. Customers can pull up an inventory of each and every hyperlink for your web page to scan the place they may be able to move. That simplest works while you’ve marked them as it should be.
When you wish to have exact button conduct for movements like shape submissions or pop-up opens, you’ll upload position=”button” by the use of Customized Attributes. We’ll quilt that within the subsequent segment.
A Few Examples
- A Button Module on your header, related to /touch, makes use of the default <a> tag. The href issues guests on your touch web page.
- Weblog submit playing cards with “Learn Extra” styled as buttons stay hyperlinks. Each and every one issues to another submit URL.
- Anchor hyperlinks like #products and services that soar to web page sections keep as <a> tags with the # prefix within the href.
- Obtain buttons for PDFs or worth sheets can use an <a> tag, and you’ll be able to upload the obtain characteristic when suitable.
- Footer social icons linking on your Fb or LinkedIn profiles are hyperlinks. Exterior URLs move within the href box.
- Breadcrumb navigation on the most sensible of product pages makes use of hyperlink tags for each and every clickable phase main again thru your website online hierarchy.
Get started Construction Web pages In Divi 5 These days!
Hyperlinks take other people someplace. Buttons make one thing occur. When your markup suits that intent, navigation turns into more straightforward to move slowly, interfaces develop into more straightforward to make use of, and assistive era proclaims movements as it should be.
With Divi 5, you don’t have to wager. Use Semantic Elements to make a choice the suitable tag, then use Custom Attributes so as to add labels, roles when wanted, and any additional conduct hooks. Construct the design, then make the which means particular.
If you wish to follow this workflow on actual layouts straight away, try Divi 5 and get started environment right kind semantics as you construct.
The submit Buttons vs Links: When To Use Each In Divi 5 (With Practical Examples) gave the impression first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Contents
- 1 Buttons vs Hyperlinks: The Distinction Defined
- 2 Introducing Divi 5’s Semantic Parts
- 3 When To Use The Button Tag
- 4 When To Use The Hyperlink Tag
- 5 Get started Construction Web pages In Divi 5 These days!
- 6 16 Best AI Chatbots in 2023 (Reviewed and Compared)
- 7 🔥 Marvel Divi Cloud Giveaway. 24 Hours Simplest!
- 8 7 Cushy Abilities You Wish to Reach Occupation Expansion



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