Just Use a Button

Daily Tips

October 31, 2025

Just use a button

One of the weirdest “debates” I seem to perpetually have with framework-enthusiastic developers is whether or not a <div> is “just as good” as a <button> .

Spoiler: it’s not. Let’s dig in.

The problem

Among the React crowd, and also among people who seem to enjoy HTMX, I see a lot this…

< div onclick = "showSignIn()" > Open Modal </ div >

function showSignIn () { // Code to show the sign-in modal. // The details of what happens here vary by stack. }

What’s wrong with this?

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