Is there a way to get an "onrelease" state using CSS?

I believe with just CSS the only pseudo-class that would come close is :hover for example ”.class:hover{ }”. Unless there is something new that has come out.

your best bet would be to would be to use onmouseup in the element itself. Add something like onmouseup=“this.className=‘newClassName’;”

That method would also be more compatible with IE 6 (if your concerned) as IE 6 does not support :hover.

Support for CSS psuedo-classes visited should do the trick. Just make sure you put them in the correct order so inheritance doesn’t backfire on you.
a:link {color:#FF0000} /* unvisited link */
a:visited {color:#00FF00} /* visited link */
a:hover {color:#FF00FF} /* mouse over link */
a:active {color:#0000FF} /* selected link */

JavaScript onBlur ought to should let you do even more creative things if you don’t mind passing the task to JS.

Alas, there’s no such CSS pseudo-class. Here’s a simple jquery solution. Replace ”#button” with whatever selector gets to the button and add css styles for ”.released” into your stylesheet.

$(’#button’).mouseup(function(){
$(this).addClass(‘released’);
});

@lapilofu The visited pseudo-class exists, and it works in every major browser I know of. And it can be used with the background: property to control a graphic button so that the button has one image for the unvisited a tag, and different ones for the visited, hover and active states.
http://webdesign.about.com/od/css/a/aa041904.htm

@ETpro I don’t think :visited applies until one has actually visited the website that a link leads to. I believe the question is about a) a button and b) the state of the button before the next page has loaded but after the button has been clicked. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood, though.

@lapilofu I see what you are saying. Perhaps. I was assuming the button loaded a popup window or some such. If it instead loads a page that takes a long time loading, then your trick and substituting one of the little spinner animated GIFs might be a cool approach. That would at least show something is happening.

@lapilofu you have interpreted the question correctly. During the click itself the button is in the “active” state. As soon as the click is released, the button briefly goes back to the unclicked state before the next page loads. Call me OCD but that little moment breaks the whole illusion of a press-able button.

My solution should fix your problem. OCD’s good when it comes to UI. In the words of the ever-fashionable Cary Grant: “It takes 500 small details to add up to a favourable impression.”