[[!meta title="Shiny, Animated CSS Buttons"]]
[[!meta date="2021-04-27"]]

Everyone can appreciate fancy, animated buttons - but often times they come with a performance cost: *JavaScript*. Luckily for us, we can create our very own shiny, animated buttons with pure CSS.

## The Demo

![Four buttons that shine when hovered](/public/images/shiny-buttons.png)

[Live CodePen Example](https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/oNBQevj)

## The HTML

Nothing fancy going on here, just a set of `ahref` elements with specific `button` classes added:


    <a href="#" class="button green"><span>Green Button</span></a>
    <a href="#" class="button blue"><span>Blue Button</span></a>
    <a href="#" class="button orange"><span>Orange Button</span></a>
    <a href="#" class="button purple"><span>Purple Button</span></a>


## The CSS

First we set the default base styling for all the buttons. We also place the inner text into `span` elements (I will explain why in a little bit):


    .button {
        background: white;
        border: 1px solid #a5b1c2;
        border-radius: 6px;
        box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
        color: #111111;
        display: inline-block;
        margin: 1rem auto;
        min-width: 180px;
        overflow: hidden;
        padding: 15px 30px;
        position: relative;
        text-align: center;
        text-decoration: none;
        transition: .3s ease-in-out all;
    }
    .button span {
        position: relative;
        z-index: 2;
    }


Now we need to create our *shiny* element that will pass across the button on `hover` or `focus`. For this object we will use the `before` pseudo element:


    .button:before {
        background: linear-gradient(transparent 0%, rgba(255,255,255,0.6) 50%, transparent 100%);
        content:'';
        height: 200%;
        position: absolute;
        right: calc(100% + 20px);
        top: -55%;
        transform: rotate(-70deg);
        transition: .6s ease-in-out right;
        width: 80px;
        z-index: 0;
    }


Next, we tell the `before` element to swipe across the main `.button` parent element when the user hovers or focuses on it. Remember placing our inner content into a `span` element? That insures that our shiny/swipe element doesn't position itself *over* the text, but instead flows under it:


    .button:hover:before {
        right: -100%;
    }
    /* Extra visual styling for buttons on hover - optional */
    .button:hover, button:focus {
        box-shadow: 0 8px 12px rgba(0,0,0,0.1), inset 0 10px 30px rgba(255,255,255,0.3), inset 0 2px 2px rgba(255,255,255,0.2);
        color: white;
    }


All that's left is adding some visual flare to each individual button - in this case background-color and border-color:


    .button.green:hover, button.green:focus { background: #20bf6b; border-color: #20bf6b; }
    .button.blue:hover, button.blue:focus { background: #0984e3; border-color: #0984e3; }
    .button.orange:hover, button.orange:focus { background: #ff793f; border-color: #ff793f; }
    .button.purple:hover, button.purple:focus { background: #6c5ce7; border-color: #6c5ce7; }


## Browser Support

These buttons work across all browsers flawlessly. See the details [on the caniuse report itself](https://caniuse.com/css-gencontent).

## The Live CodePen

You can find the live demo embedded at the top of this post, or [directly on CodePen here](https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/oNBQevj).