Button types

I���ve been banging the drum for a button type="share" for a while now.

I���ve also written about other potential button types. The pattern I noticed was that, if a JavaScript API first requires a user interaction���like the Web Share API���then that���s a good hint that a declarative option would be useful:

The Fullscreen API has the same restriction. You can���t make the browser go fullscreen unless you���re responding to user gesture, like a click. So why not have button type=���fullscreen” in HTML to encapsulate that? And again, the fallback in non-supporting browsers is predictable���it behaves like a regular button���so this is trivial to polyfill.

There���s another ���smell��� that points to some potential button types: what functionality do browsers provide in their interfaces?

Some browsers provide a print button. So how about button type="print"? The functionality is currently doable with button onclick="window.print()" so this would be a nicer, more declarative way of doing something that���s already possible.

It���s the same with back buttons, forward buttons, and refresh buttons. The functionality is available through a browser interface, and it���s also scriptable, so why not have a declarative equivalent?

How about bookmarking?

And remember, the browser interface isn���t always visible: progressive web apps that launch with minimal browser UI need to provide this functionality.

��ime Vidas was wondering about button type="copy��� for copying to clipboard. Again, it���s something that���s currently scriptable and requires a user gesture. It���s a little more complex than the other actions because there needs to be some way of providing the text to be copied, but it���s definitely a valid use case.

button type="share"button type="fullscreen"button type="print"button type="bookmark"button type="back"button type="forward"button type="refresh"button type="copy"

Any more?