Best Practices

• Buttons do not open a new page, use links instead
• Buttons can open dialogs and menus, but should use the proper ARIA attributes

Markup Expectations

• Always use the <button> element. This solves most of the accessibly concerns for free.

Labeling Expectations

• Use clear and descriptive labels. By default this is the text inside the <Button> component.
• Ambiguous labels like "click here", "run", "save" are ok for sighted users but can lack context for users using assistive technology. Use the aria-label attribute to provide an accessible label for all <Button> components with potentially ambiguous labels.
• Icon only buttons must provide a descriptive label using the aria-label attribute.

Focus Expectations

• Buttons with :focus should have an outline and/or a visible change to show it has focus.

Keyboard Expectations

• Buttons with focus should be activated when user hits the ENTER and SPACEBAR keys
• If button has focus, TAB and SHIFT+TAB should move focus to next focusable element.

Related Aria Attributes

aria-label

Use this to provide more context and an accessible label for <Button> components. Must be used for buttons with ambiguous labels and icon only buttons.

For example <Button aria-label="Save Dashboard">Save</Button> would be announced as "Save Dashboard Button" by a screen reader instead of just "Save Button".

aria-haspopup

Use this to indicate that when the buttons is pressed a popup is triggered. A popup can be a dialog or menu.

For example say you have an icon-only button that reveals a set of options in a context menu when clicked, you would do the following:

<Button aria-haspopup="true" aria-label="Look Settings">
  Settings
</Button>

This would be announced as "Look Settings popup button" by a screen reader.