This HTML and CSS code shows how to customise buttons in a restful way. Source: http://particletree.com/features/rediscovering-the-button-element/

<div class="buttons">
    <button type="submit" class="positive">
        <img src="/images/icons/tick.png" alt=""/> 
        Save
    </button>

    <a href="/password/reset/">
        <img src="/images/icons/textfield_key.png" alt=""/> 
        Change Password
    </a>

    <a href="#" class="negative">
        <img src="/images/icons/cross.png" alt=""/>
        Cancel
    </a>
</div>

/* BUTTONS */

.buttons a, .buttons button{
    display:block;
    float:left;
    margin:0 7px 0 0;
    background-color:#f5f5f5;
    border:1px solid #dedede;
    border-top:1px solid #eee;
    border-left:1px solid #eee;

    font-family:"Lucida Grande", Tahoma, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;
    font-size:100%;
    line-height:130%;
    text-decoration:none;
    font-weight:bold;
    color:#565656;
    cursor:pointer;
    padding:5px 10px 6px 7px; /* Links */
}
.buttons button{
    width:auto;
    overflow:visible;
    padding:4px 10px 3px 7px; /* IE6 */
}
.buttons button[type]{
    padding:5px 10px 5px 7px; /* Firefox */
    line-height:17px; /* Safari */
}
*:first-child+html button[type]{
    padding:4px 10px 3px 7px; /* IE7 */
}
.buttons button img, .buttons a img{
    margin:0 3px -3px 0 !important;
    padding:0;
    border:none;
    width:16px;
    height:16px;
}

Adding colour to the buttons - Colour is used like a traffic light system, green for go (positive), red for stop (negative, think about this for a moment), and blue which isn't a traffic light (neutral, a miscellaneous item)

/* STANDARD */

button:hover, .buttons a:hover{
    background-color:#dff4ff;
    border:1px solid #c2e1ef;
    color:#336699;
}
.buttons a:active{
    background-color:#6299c5;
    border:1px solid #6299c5;
    color:#fff;
}

/* POSITIVE */

button.positive, .buttons a.positive{
    color:#529214;
}
.buttons a.positive:hover, button.positive:hover{
    background-color:#E6EFC2;
    border:1px solid #C6D880;
    color:#529214;
}
.buttons a.positive:active{
    background-color:#529214;
    border:1px solid #529214;
    color:#fff;
}

/* NEGATIVE */

.buttons a.negative, button.negative{
    color:#d12f19;
}
.buttons a.negative:hover, button.negative:hover{
    background:#fbe3e4;
    border:1px solid #fbc2c4;
    color:#d12f19;
}
.buttons a.negative:active{
    background-color:#d12f19;
    border:1px solid #d12f19;
    color:#fff;
}

// Works on a seperate thread and changes the color of a button if a significant event happens

void HotShotTick(object obj)
{
if (this.InvokeRequired) { this.Invoke((MethodInvoker)delegate {
this.FillHotshots();
if (this.dsSignificant.HotshotBets.Rows.Count > 0)
{
this.btnHotShotBets.BackColor = Color.Red;
}
else
{
this.btnHotShotBets.BackColor = Color.Green;
}
});
}

// description of your code here

 public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        int iBtn = 0;
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            ++iBtn;

            if (iBtn == 3)
            {
                iBtn = 0;
            }

            switch (iBtn)
            {
                case 0: button1.Text = "default";
                    break;
                case 1: button1.Text = "Love";
                    break;
                case 2: button1.Text = "Hate";
                    break;
            }
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            button1.Text = "default";
        }
    }

Ajax radio buttons. update the page div when a radio button is pressed.

<div id="join">
        <p class="title">
      Sign-up
        </p>
   <% form_for :radio_join, :html => { :id => 'radio_join' } do %>
      <%= radio_button_tag :join_page, :member %> Member
      <%= radio_button_tag :join_page, :model %> Model
      <%= radio_button_tag :join_page, :photographer %> Photographer
    <% end -%>
<% form_for :user, @user, :url => {:action => 'save_free'} do |user_form| -%>
        <div class="info">
    <%= render :partial => 'common/user_form', :object => user_form %>
                <p class="alignright">
        <%= submit_tag 'JOIN', :class => 'inputSubmit' %>
                </p>
      <br />
      <br />
        </div>
  <% end -%>

     </div>
<%= observe_form :radio_join, :url => { :action => 'choose_page' }, :update => "join", :complete => "Element.show('join')", :frequency => "0.25" %>

// Programmatically Click the Form Submit Button
// by using the 'click()' method

  submitTags : function()
  {
    var btnSubmitTags = document.getElementById( TagsHelperConfig.FORM_TAGS_ENTRY_SUBMIT_BUTTON_ID );

    // Programmatically click the submit button
    btnSubmitTags.click();
  }

I frequently have to use methods such as 'radio_button' and 'check_box_tag' when I don't have an object with a method that will automatically determine the value of the input field. Therefore, I have to check to see if a certain parameter has been passed, and if so, if the parameter's value matches that of the input's value. This method does that.

It's designed to be used in a Rails helper. You can either pass it the object, method, and value (the same parameters as, for example, radio_button) or name and value (the same parameters as radio_button_tag).

def checked?( *args )
  if args.length == 3
    object, method, value = args
    if params[object] && params[object][method] && params[object][method] == value
      'checked'
    end
  elsif args.length == 2
    name, value = args
    if params[name] && params[name] == value
      true
    end
  end
end

Here's an example usage:

<%= radio_button 'person', 'age', '12', :checked => checked?( 'person', 'age', '12' ) %>

If params[:person][:age] exists and it equals '12', then 'checked?' returns 'checked'; otherwise, it returns nil.