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Re: Forms that delete something

for

From: tim.harshbarger
Date: Jan 9, 2024 7:24AM

Realistically, whether or not the button is inside a form will be meaningful to someone using a screen reader. Unless you do something special, the person using a screen reader most likely will not be informed that the button is contained inside a form. However, what is important for people using screen readers is that the element conveys its role (that it is a button) and its name (that its label is delete).

There can be some keyboard advantages to using a form with a submit button. If a button is type="submit", it becomes the default action of the form which means that pressing enter on some other types of controls (like a text field) will activate that submit function without the person needing to tab to the submit button.

Regarding links vs. buttons, I expect those of us who are very focused on the design and development of user interfaces place way more emphasis on this than the people who use the user interfaces.

For example, you have a multi-page form with a next page and previous page function. Technically, if pressing next loads a whole new page it should be a link. If it is a Single Page App (SPA) which only updates some of the content on the page, it should be a button. For people who don't spend their days focused on this type of detail that is a meaningless difference.

It is most definitely advisable to try to use some kind of rule of thumb about links and buttons. It is probably more important that you are consistent within your interface than you try to apply the rule universally when it will have no meaning for non-technical users.

Hope this helps.

Thanks!
Tim