Creating Beautiful Buttons with ElevatedButton and TextButton in Flutter

Introduction

Flutter buttons are fundamental UI elements that trigger actions and enhance interactivity in your apps. Two of the most commonly used button widgets are ElevatedButton and TextButton. ElevatedButton provides a Material Design “raised” appearance, ideal for primary actions, while TextButton is flat and unobtrusive, great for secondary or inline actions. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to implement and style these Flutter buttons to create visually appealing, consistent UI components. We’ll cover basic usage, theming with ButtonStyle, and practical tips to maintain design coherence across your app.

Understanding ElevatedButton

ElevatedButton is designed for high-emphasis actions. By default it has an elevation (shadow) and colored background, making it stand out against your layout.

Basic implementation:

ElevatedButton(
  onPressed: () {
    // Handle press
  },
  child: Text('Submit'),
),

Key properties:

• onPressed: required callback for tap events.

• child: typically Text or Icon.

• style: optional ButtonStyle for customizing colors, padding, elevation, and shape.

Customizing ElevatedButton

You can tailor ElevatedButton’s appearance using the style parameter and ElevatedButton.styleFrom. Here’s how:

ElevatedButton(
  onPressed: () {},
  style: ElevatedButton.styleFrom(
    primary: Colors.deepPurple,      // background color
    onPrimary: Colors.white,         // text/icon color
    elevation: 5,                    // shadow depth
    padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(
      horizontal: 24, vertical: 12), // inner spacing
    shape: RoundedRectangleBorder(
      borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(8),
    ),
  ),
  child: Text('Proceed'),
),

Tips for consistent theming:

• Extract ButtonStyle into a variable or theme extension.

• Use ThemeData.elevatedButtonTheme in your MaterialApp to apply styles globally.

• Leverage .copyWith to tweak specific properties without redefining the entire style.

Exploring TextButton

TextButton is perfect for low-emphasis actions, inline links, or dialog actions. It’s essentially a flat button with no elevation by default:

TextButton(
  onPressed: () {
    // Navigate or dismiss
  },
  child: Text('Cancel'),
),

By default, TextButton uses the app’s TextButtonTheme or falls back to primary color. It’s lightweight and blends seamlessly with text-heavy interfaces.

Styling TextButton

Like ElevatedButton, TextButton can be customized using TextButton.styleFrom or ButtonStyle. Common customizations include text color, padding, and overlay color for pressed states.

Example:

TextButton(
  onPressed: () {},
  style: TextButton.styleFrom(
    primary: Colors.teal,             // text and icon color
    padding: EdgeInsets.symmetric(
      horizontal: 16, vertical: 8),
    backgroundColor: Colors.teal[50], // subtle background
    shape: StadiumBorder(),           // pill shape
  ),
  child: Text('Learn More'),
),

Advanced styling via ButtonStyle:

TextButton(
  onPressed: () {},
  style: ButtonStyle(
    overlayColor: MaterialStateProperty.resolveWith<Color?>(
      (states) => states.contains(MaterialState.pressed)
          ? Colors.teal.withOpacity(0.1)
          : null,
    ),
    textStyle: MaterialStateProperty.all(
      TextStyle(fontWeight: FontWeight.bold),
    ),
  ),
  child: Text('Details'),
),

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Conclusion

ElevatedButton and TextButton are versatile Flutter buttons that cover a wide range of UI scenarios—from prominent call-to-action buttons to subtle inline links. By understanding their default behavior and mastering ButtonStyle, you can create consistent, on-brand interactions with minimal code. Remember to leverage the global theming APIs (elevatedButtonTheme, textButtonTheme) in your MaterialApp to enforce design standards across your application.

With these Flutter buttons and styling techniques in your toolkit, you’re ready to build beautiful, responsive UI components that elevate your user experience. Happy coding!