Arcade CSS button
Retro pixel-font game button. Hover, click and tab to it to see every state.
CSS
@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Press+Start+2P&display=swap');
.btn {
display: inline-flex;
align-items: center;
justify-content: center;
gap: .5em;
padding: 16px 24px;
font-family: 'Press Start 2P', monospace;
font-size: 12px;
font-weight: 400;
line-height: 1.2;
text-transform: uppercase;
color: #ffffff;
background: #ef4444;
border: 0;
border-radius: 0px;
box-shadow: 0 5px 0 0 #7f1d1d, 0 0 0 3px #000000, inset 0 -4px 0 0 #b91c1c;
text-shadow: 2px 2px 0 #7f1d1d;
cursor: pointer;
text-decoration: none;
white-space: nowrap;
-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent;
transition: transform 80ms linear, box-shadow 80ms linear, filter 80ms linear;
}
.btn__icon {
display: inline-block;
transition: transform 80ms linear;
}
.btn:hover {
filter: brightness(1.12000000000000010658141036401502788066864013671875);
}
.btn:hover .btn__icon {
transform: translateX(-3px);
}
.btn:active {
transform: translateY(5px);
box-shadow: 0 0 0 0 #7f1d1d, 0 0 0 3px #000000, inset 0 -4px 0 0 #b91c1c;
transition-duration: 40ms;
}
.btn:focus-visible {
outline: 3px solid #facc15;
outline-offset: 3px;
}
@media (prefers-reduced-motion: reduce) {
.btn,
.btn__icon {
transition: none;
animation: none;
}
}HTML
<button class="btn" type="button">
<span class="btn__icon" aria-hidden="true">★</span>
Get started
</button>How this button is built
- Background: a solid #ef4444 fill.
- Type: Press Start 2P, weight 400, 12px, uppercase, in #ffffff.
- Shape: square corners with 16px × 24px padding.
- Depth: a hard offset shadow with no blur, which gives it physical depth, an inset highlight along the edge and a text shadow.
- Interaction: on hover it brightens slightly and nudges its icon, and it presses down 5px when clicked, with 80ms transitions.
- Accessibility: a visible
:focus-visiblering for keyboard users, and all motion turns off underprefers-reduced-motion.
How to use it
- Copy the CSS into your stylesheet. The
@importline loads the Press Start 2P font from Google Fonts. Move it to the top of your file, or drop it if you already load the font. - Paste the HTML where you want the button. It works on
<button>,<a>and<input type="submit">. - Change the label, or rename the
.btnclass if it clashes with your framework. Want a different colour or size? Open it in the editor, change it visually, and copy the new code.