How to Add a "Download" Label and Stylish Border to Your SmugMug Download Button

Have you ever wanted to make your SmugMug download buttons that appears over gallery thumbnails more prominent and user-friendly? By default, SmugMug’s download buttons only show a small icon without any text label, which can sometimes confuse visitors who might not immediately recognize what the button does.

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to add a clear “Download” text label and a stylish rounded border to your download buttons using simple CSS code. This customization will make your download buttons more obvious and visually appealing to your website visitors.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this tutorial, your download button will have:

• A clear “Download” text label next to the icon
• A white rounded border around the entire button
• A smooth hover effect that makes the button feel interactive

Before We Start

This tutorial uses CSS code, which might look intimidating if you’ve never used it before. Don’t worry! CSS is like giving instructions to your website about how things should look. Think of it as telling your website: “Make this button have a white border” or “Add the word ‘Download’ before the icon.”

You don’t need to understand every single line of code – just follow the steps, and everything will work perfectly.

Step 1: Find Where to Add the Code

First, you need to decide where to apply this customization:

• For all galleries: Add the code to the ENTIRE SITE section
• For specific galleries: Add the code to individual galleries

To add the code:

1. Log in to your SmugMug account
2. Go to Customize → CSS Content Block
3. Click Add to create a new CSS content block

Step 2: Add the CSS Code

Copy and paste this code into your CSS content block:

CSS

/* Add "Download" text and rounded border to SmugMug download button */
.sm-button-image-download{
border:1px solid white !important;/* White rounded border */
border-radius:20px!important;/* More rounded corners */
padding:8px12px!important;/* Add padding for better spacing */
transition: all 0.3s ease !important;/* Smooth transition for all properties */
}
/* Add "Download" text before the icon */
.sm-button-image-download::before{
margin-right:4px;/* Adjusting space between the button and the icon */
content:"Download";
font-size:13px;/* Adjust font size as needed */
color: inherit;/* Use the same color as the button */
}
/* Optional: Adjust the icon size if needed */
.sm-button-image-download.sm-fonticon{
flex-shrink:0;/* Prevent icon from shrinking */
}
/* Optional: Hover effect for better user experience */
.sm-button-image-download:hover{
background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.1)!important;
border-color:#555 !important;
transform:translateY(-2px)!important;/* Subtle lift effect */
}

Step 3: Understanding What the Code Does

Let me break down what each part of the code does in simple terms:

The Main Button Styling

CSS

.sm-button-image-download{
border:1px solid white !important;
border-radius:20px!important;
padding:8px12px!important;
transition: all 0.3s ease !important;
}

• border: 1px solid white

  – Creates a thin white border around the button

• border-radius: 20px

  – Makes the corners rounded (higher numbers = more rounded)

• padding: 8px 12px

  – Adds space inside the button so it’s not cramped

• transition: all 0.3s ease

  – Makes any changes to the button happen smoothly over 0.3 seconds

Adding the “Download” Text

CSS

.sm-button-image-download::before{
margin-right:4px;
content:"Download";
font-size:13px;
color: inherit;
}

• content: "Download"

  – This is where the magic happens! This adds the word “Download” before the icon

• margin-right: 4px

  – Creates a small gap between the text and the icon

• font-size: 13px

  – Controls how big the text appears

• color: inherit

  – Makes the text the same color as the rest of the button

The Hover Effect

CSS

.sm-button-image-download:hover{
background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0.1)!important;
border-color:#555 !important;
transform:translateY(-2px)!important;
}

This section creates a nice effect when someone hovers their mouse over the button:

• The background becomes slightly darker
• The border changes to a gray color
• The button “lifts” up by 2 pixels, making it feel interactive

Step 4: Customize the Code (Optional)

Want to make some adjustments? Here are the most common customizations:

Change the Text Label

Replace

"Download"

with any text you prefer:

content: "Get Photos";

or

content: "Save Image";

Change the Border Color

Replace

white

with any color you like:

border: 1px solid blue !important;

or

border: 1px solid #ff6b6b !important;

Make the Corners More or Less Rounded

Change the

20px

value:

• 10px

  = slightly rounded

• 30px

  = very rounded

• 50px

  = completely round ends

Adjust the Text Size

Change the

13px

value to make the text bigger or smaller:

font-size: 16px; _/* Bigger text */_

or

font-size: 11px; _/* Smaller text */_

Step 5: Test Your Button

After adding the code:

1. Click Save on your CSS content block
2. Publish your changes
3. Visit your gallery and look for the download button
4. Try hovering over it to see the smooth animation effect

Troubleshooting

The button doesn’t look different: Make sure you’ve published your changes and cleared your browser cache (try refreshing the page with Ctrl+F5 on Windows or Cmd+Shift+R on Mac).

The text appears but looks weird: Check that you’ve copied the entire code correctly, including all the brackets and semicolons.

The hover effect doesn’t work: This is usually a copy-paste issue. Double-check that the hover section of the code is included.

Why This Works

SmugMug’s download buttons have a specific class name (

sm-button-image-download

) that we can target with CSS. By using CSS pseudo-elements (the

::before

part), we can add content that wasn’t originally there. The

!important

declarations ensure our styling takes priority over SmugMug’s default styles.

Final Thoughts

This simple customization can make a big difference in user experience. Your visitors will immediately understand what the button does, and the polished styling makes your site look more professional.

Remember, if you want to remove this customization later, simply delete the CSS code from your content block and publish the changes.