How to disable a link using only CSS?

Question

Is there any way to disable a link using CSS?

I have a class called current-page and want links with this class to be disabled so that no action occurs

Answer 1

Thanks to everyone that posted solutions, I combined multiple approaches to provide some more advanced disabled functionality. Here is a gist, and the code is below.

This provides for multiple levels of defense so that Anchors marked as disable actually behave as such.
Using this approach, you get an anchor that you cannot:
  - click
  - tab to and hit return
  - tabbing to it will move focus to the next focusable element
  - it is aware if the anchor is subsequently enabled


1.  Include this css, as it is the first line of defense.  This assumes the selector you use is 'a.disabled'
    a.disabled {
      pointer-events: none;
      cursor: default;
    }

 2. Next, instantiate this class such as (with optional selector):
    $ ->
      new AnchorDisabler()

Here is the coffescript class:

class AnchorDisabler
  constructor: (selector = 'a.disabled') ->
    $(selector).click(@onClick).keyup(@onKeyup).focus(@onFocus)

  isStillDisabled: (ev) =>
    ### since disabled can be a class or an attribute, and it can be dynamically removed, always recheck on a watched event ###
    target = $(ev.target)
    return true if target.hasClass('disabled')
    return true if target.attr('disabled') is 'disabled'
    return false

  onFocus: (ev) =>
    ### if an attempt is made to focus on a disabled element, just move it along to the next focusable one. ###
    return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

    focusables = $(':focusable')
    return unless focusables

    current = focusables.index(ev.target)
    next = (if focusables.eq(current + 1).length then focusables.eq(current + 1) else focusables.eq(0))

    next.focus() if next


  onClick: (ev) =>
    # disabled could be dynamically removed
    return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

    ev.preventDefault()
    return false

  onKeyup: (ev) =>

    # 13 is the js key code for Enter, we are only interested in disabling that so get out fast
    code = ev.keyCode or ev.which
    return unless code is 13

    # disabled could be dynamically removed
    return unless @isStillDisabled(ev)

    ev.preventDefault()
    return false

Answer 2

If you want to stick to just HTML/CSS on a form, another option is to use a button. Style it and set the disabled attribute.

E.g. http://jsfiddle.net/cFTxH/1/

Answer 3

The answer is already in the comments of the question. For more visibility, I am copying this solution here:

.not-active {
  pointer-events: none;
  cursor: default;
  text-decoration: none;
  color: black;
}

<a href="link.html" class="not-active">Link</a>

For browser support, please see https://caniuse.com/#feat=pointer-events. If you need to support IE there is a workaround; see this answer.

Warning: The use of pointer-events in CSS for non-SVG elements is experimental. The feature used to be part of the CSS3 UI draft specification but, due to many open issues, has been postponed to CSS4.

Answer 4

.disabled {
  pointer-events: none;
  cursor: default;
  opacity: 0.6;
}

<a href="#" class="disabled">link</a>