Why I Don't Trust the Submit Button Toggle

Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a pattern I’ve written more times than I care to admit:

button.classList.add('enabled');

button.addEventListener('click', async () => {
  button.classList.toggle('enabled');   // intent: disable while submitting
  await sendRequest();
  button.classList.toggle('enabled');   // intent: re-enable after
});

Two toggles. Symmetric. Looks self-explanatory.

Wrong in a way that takes a paragraph to explain and ten minutes to debug the first time you ship it.

The problem isn’t the function name. It’s the operation.

toggle() says “flip whatever’s there.” add() and remove() say “make it on” or “make it off.” Those look interchangeable when you’re typing them. They aren’t — not when something else writes to the class between your two calls.

State-Management on D34dBlog

Why I Don't Trust the Submit Button Toggle