Disable HTML elements

Disable form elements #

The disabled attribute is used to disable form elements

HTML
<button disabled>Delete</button>
<input type="text" name="address" disabled>

If a <fieldset> is disabled, the descendant form controls are all disabled.

HTML
<fieldset id="group" disabled> 
    <input name="foo"> 
    <input type="checkbox" name="bar"> 
    <select name="values"> 
        <option value="1">Value 1</option>
        <option value="2">Value 2</option>
        <option value="3">Value 3</option>        
    </select>
</fieldset>

To disable a link, unlike the previous technique, the use of the disabled attribute is not allowed. It is still possible to disable a link by following 3 steps:

  • remove the href attribute so that it can no longer receive the focus
  • add a role="link" so that it is always considered a link by screen readers
  • add an attribute aria-disabled="true" so that it is indicated as being disabled
HTML
<a role="link" aria-disabled="true"> Disabled link </a>

Check out Scott O'Hara's excellent article on the subject: Disabling a link.