Windows OS Button Style CSS

Question

Can anyone guess what CSS styling I should apply to a button to guess this exact look.

Note: I realize this is the default look for for unstyled buttons on Windows and that I don't have to apply any CSS to get this style, but on Mac and Linux it's not the same, so I can't depend on the default styling of the OS for this. I would have to force this style myself in the css. Anyone knows what CSS styling can consistently produce this effect?

Answer 1

Examples

Firefox 3.6.12

Safari 5.0.3

Chrome 8

Internet Explorer 8

For some reason, IE8's propriety filter property didn't work (it should).

HTML

<button>
    <span>
       <span>
          Submit
       </span>   
    </span>
</button>

It seems to work better cross browser with 2 child elements. Using the button itself as the outer element caused a few issues.

CSS

button {
    background: none;
    border: none;
    padding: 0;   
}

button span {
    display: block;
    -webkit-border-radius: 3px;
    -moz-border-radius: 3px;
    border-radius: 3px;
    border: 1px solid #999;
    padding: 0;
    background: #F0F0F0;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top,  #F0F0F0 50%, #D4D4D4 50%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(50%,#F0F0F0), color-stop(50%,#D4D4D4));
    filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#F0F0F0', endColorstr='#D4D4D4',GradientType=0 );
}

button span span {
    border: 1px solid #fff;
    padding: 10px;
}

See it on jsFiddle.

Answer 2

OK, since I can't see your image, I just took a default button look on my OS (Windows 7). The styling would be something like this (only Firefox taken into account, as I'm too lazy to do a cross-browser version):

a.button {
    height: 18px;
    padding: 2px 8px;
    border: 1px solid #F3F3F3;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #707070;
    -moz-border-radius: 3px;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #F2F2F2 0%, #EBEBEB 50%, #DDDDDD 51%, #CFCFCF 100%);
    font: normal 12px sans-serif;
    color: black;
    text-decoration: none;
}
a.button:hover {
    border: 1px solid #ECF7FD;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #3C7FB1;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #EAF6FD 0%, #D9F0FC 50%, #BEE6FD 51%, #A7D9F5 100%);
}
a.button:active {
    padding: 2px 7px 3px 9px;
    border: 1px solid #73A7C4;
    border-bottom: 0;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #2C628B;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #E5F4FC 0%, #C4E5F6 50%, #98D1EF 51%, #68B3DB 100%);
}

This is a CSS-only version using CSS3. It won't work in Internet Explorer and Opera will not render the background gradients. So you're best off using images instead of pure CSS.

[EDIT]

A more complete implementation: jsfiddle (feel free to add IE filters and some sort of fallback for Opera and edit my answer to post it - BE BOLD :))

a.button {
    height: 18px;
    padding: 2px 8px;
    border: 1px solid #F3F3F3;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #707070;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #707070;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #707070;
    -moz-border-radius: 3px;
    -webkit-border-radius: 3px;
    border-radius: 3px;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #F2F2F2 0%, #EBEBEB 50%, #DDDDDD 51%, #CFCFCF 100%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0,#F2F2F2), color-stop(0.5,#EBEBEB),color-stop(0.51,#DDDDDD),color-stop(1,#CFCFCF));
    background: linear-gradient(top, #F2F2F2 0%, #EBEBEB 50%, #DDDDDD 51%, #CFCFCF 100%);
    font: normal 12px sans-serif;
    color: black;
    text-decoration: none;
}
a.button:hover {
    border: 1px solid #ECF7FD;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #3C7FB1;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #3C7FB1;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #3C7FB1;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #EAF6FD 0%, #D9F0FC 50%, #BEE6FD 51%, #A7D9F5 100%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0,#EAF6FD), color-stop(0.5,#D9F0FC),color-stop(0.51,#BEE6FD),color-stop(1,#A7D9F5));
    background: linear-gradient(top, #EAF6FD 0%, #D9F0FC 50%, #BEE6FD 51%, #A7D9F5 100%);
}
a.button:active {
    padding: 2px 7px 3px 9px;
    border: 1px solid #73A7C4;
    border-bottom: 0;
    -moz-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #2C628B;
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #2C628B;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 1px #2C628B;
    background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #E5F4FC 0%, #C4E5F6 50%, #98D1EF 51%, #68B3DB 100%);
    background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0,#E5F4FC), color-stop(0.5,#C4E5F6),color-stop(0.51,#98D1EF),color-stop(1,#68B3DB));
}

<a class="button" href="#">Click me</a>

[Edit 2]

Edited to include IE's Filter. http://jsfiddle.net/Kyle_/aUsxy/3/

Answer 3

Here is a good tutorial on getting the effect you are after:

http://www.monc.se/kitchen/59/scalable-css-buttons-using-png-and-background-colors

It's quite difficult to style a button exactly like that, and in a usable scalable format.

An alternative is to simulate an HTML button, have it as a div with a background image and write some Javascript to simulate the functionality.