Buttons perform an action or activity in a software solution. Use this tag for questions about how buttons should be placed, styled, aligned or used to express their purpose and facilitate their operation.
256
votes
22answers
12k views
Why do people clear the screen multiple times when using a calculator?
I've noticed that most people when using a real or a virtual calculator, they hit the Clear button multiple times when clearing the screen (even though hitting it once is enough), so I started ...
207
votes
12answers
36k views
Should I use Yes/No or Ok/Cancel on my message box?
Semantically, the Yes/No buttons are roughly equivalent to the Ok/Cancel buttons, but in general what would you recommend to use? Should I always use Yes/No or always use Ok/Cancel? Or does it depend ...
121
votes
23answers
13k views
OK/Cancel on left/right?
Should OK button be on left of Cancel button or vice versa?
Are there any studies suggesting either of the solutions?
104
votes
15answers
7k views
Who needs an external on/off Wi-Fi button?
It puzzles me that there are Laptops which are shipped with external physical Wi-Fi buttons. I see no real use of it, but it might have a historical explanation?! The only time one notice the external ...
88
votes
10answers
3k views
Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change?
I have a quick question about buttons that toggle between two states. (Think Play/Pause, or Shuffle/Regular Play.) As the title says, should the toggle show it's current state or the state to which it ...
75
votes
7answers
5k views
What reason could Nintendo have had for putting the A and B buttons the wrong way round?
When Nintendo brought out it's first game system, the NES, it had a controller with four buttons:
Select
Start
A
B
However, somewhere, a designer, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the A and ...
52
votes
16answers
4k views
Do you need a search button with a search box?
On websites with a search box, should you add a button they can click on, or will users understand a search box like on this site?
The target group is not very technical, such as women aged 40-60.
50
votes
10answers
4k views
How do rounded corners affect usability?
How do rounded corners on buttons and containers affect usability? Do they make buttons look more clickable? When used on other non-button elements, do they make the site look more friendly? I'm ...
40
votes
6answers
2k views
Should I provide feedback from a save button?
I'm currently in the process of developing a Windows Application which produces Word Documents.
In the program there is the ability to save your progress (different to the "Save as a Word Document" ...
40
votes
9answers
4k views
Should a button become lighter or darker on hover?
We're having a discussion in the office about whether a button should become lighter or darker when a user hovers over it.
Here are some examples from the field:
Apple "Buy Now" button (Second is ...
38
votes
20answers
3k views
Do I really need a login button?
We've been having a discussion in the office surrounding a login page we're developing for a new web application. The web application is in intranet-based application, and is mainly used by users who ...
35
votes
11answers
3k views
Can an OK button do nothing?
I guess the answer is probably "just be consistent" but if not I could use some fodder for arguments for and against.
Here's the scenario
A dialog box with a list of things to choose
Something ...
34
votes
10answers
2k views
What's the point in electronic devices beeping on keypress?
Many electronic devices, mostly cell phones, by default beep on keypress. What's the point in that?
Once a key is pressed their state is changed and that's reflected in the graphic interface anyway. ...
34
votes
5answers
2k views
why are circular buttons in software/websites so rarely used?
Why are circular buttons in software/websites so rarely used? Is it purely convention or are there usability reasons behind this?
31
votes
9answers
2k views
Why don't most elevator panels let you unselect?
We've all seen it in the movies where a kid will push all the buttons in an elevator. We've all likely done it - accidentally hit the wrong floor.
There's no unselect after you select a floor in an ...
31
votes
2answers
2k views
What rules does Google use to make a button gray, blue, or red on their sites?
This has been an elusive topic, and I haven't yet been able to form my own conclusion about what Google's reasoning is to make a given button blue, red, or gray, given their latest design ethos. Take ...
29
votes
8answers
4k views
Is a cancel button necessary in a web form?
Personally I have never used it. I don't put information in a form and then decide everything needs to be cleared. I would edit one field.
Plus cancel in a UI suggests canceling an action which is in ...
29
votes
4answers
2k views
Where should the GUI light source come from?
I know that historically the light source on GUIs is in the upper left, casting a shadow on the bottom-right of buttons and the upper left of fields. Now, I see some places (like Apple) use a top ...
29
votes
1answer
2k views
What is the significance of the three dots “…” on menus and buttons and how to use them right?
Adding three dots after the title of items in a dropdown menu seems to be a common practice (as you can see on the picture of a drop down menu in Google Chrome). They generaly mean that there is ...
27
votes
12answers
3k views
Should the OK/Cancel buttons be aligned right or centered?
Where should I put the OK/Cancel buttons on my dialogs? At the bottom centered or aligned right? I've seen both and I personally don't care, but I want to create a consistant look across my ...
26
votes
3answers
4k views
Do users understand the browser back button?
You hear a lot about not breaking the back button on websites, but can you assume that most users know and use the back button?
Is it redundant to add a JavaScript or HTML back button/link on a page?
...
24
votes
7answers
867 views
How to phrase button labels?
How should I phrase the following button labels:
"Import image" or "Import an image"?
"Create app" or "Create an app"?
"Add description" or "Add a description"?
If you could also supply the ...
20
votes
10answers
1k views
What are the differences between buttons and links?
What are the differences between buttons and links?
20
votes
4answers
1k views
When is red the right color for a button?
After reading this question about Big Bad Red buttons, where it was generally agreed upon that red buttons draw the user to click, I was left thinking: then when are they good affordance and ...
20
votes
12answers
941 views
Are 'share this' buttons really effective?
On a lot of websites (especially blogs), we find 'share it' buttons like this --> .
Personally, I never used one. If I want to share something online, I copy the link and manually share it through ...
20
votes
6answers
474 views
Should “dangerous” buttons be big and red or small and inconspicuous?
In a web app, some people think a "Delete" button should be obvious and bright red, signifying danger. The trouble is that this draws the eye to the button and may make accidental clicks more likely. ...
19
votes
6answers
853 views
Buttons instead of radio buttons or a dropdown
In a recent project of ours I am tasked with creating an interface that solves the same problem as radio buttons or a dropdown menu would, but using buttons instead.
It approximately looks like this:
...
19
votes
7answers
917 views
Are grayscale buttons with icons usable and effective?
The image here is
old gmail
new gmail, when no mail is selected
new gmail, when mail is selected
new delicious
To me, the buttons are unlabeled and tough to discover.
I don't believe the ...
19
votes
7answers
727 views
Should all button text start with a verb?
I'm reading The Grammar of Interactivity on UXBooth and finds it quite interesting. However, the article quotes David Hamill who said (or wrote):
Buttons are for actions, like “Get a quote,” ...
18
votes
10answers
8k views
Alternatives to checkboxes and radio buttons in web-based surveys?
I've been tasked with designing a simple questionnaire design with a lot of different types of questions. I've been taking a lot of web-based surveys myself as well as testing some with users. The ...
18
votes
5answers
772 views
What should be the difference between enabled and disabled buttons? (especially if they are grey)
What is the best way to show that a button is Enabled or Disabled? (especially if it has grey color)
For example what do you feel about the following button? Is it enabled or disabled?
How could it ...
17
votes
7answers
897 views
Should the order of add / edit / delete buttons be based on the frequency of their use?
In our application we have several places where users see a list of items and can add, edit or delete an item.
For some of these lists adding new items is probably the most frequent used ...
17
votes
6answers
978 views
If input text length is known, do I really need a submit button?
Use case
On a mobile device a user is improving her math skills using a native app (Windows Phone). There are many expressions being calculated in a series and the user is trying to get 10 correct ...
17
votes
2answers
294 views
Social media sharing: Does simply showing icons stimulate action?
This is tangentially related to the question "Social Media Icons - show all visible, or group under 'share'?".
In my organization, we've generally found that displaying the individual icons for ...
16
votes
11answers
558 views
Separation of play and pause buttons for playing media
I seem to remember reading somewhere that having the play pause actions triggered from a single button that toggles is a bad idea
It seems to me that this idiom works well (e.g. pressing space to ...
16
votes
3answers
414 views
What is the optimum button size of touch screen applications?
I read this blog post about the ideal button size of touch screen control sizes. It was based on the study form the MIT touch lab that gives some measures of the size and sensitivity of the finger. He ...
15
votes
7answers
594 views
Is it a bad idea to use grey buttons?
Our design team is thinking of using grey secondary buttons on our site. I'm concerned they may appear to be disabled to our users (especially when used with the primary orange buttons). There is a ...
15
votes
3answers
975 views
What's the common name for this button?
I'm trying to find out what is the way to call this kind of button:
To be precise, I'm talking about a button which acts like a regular one for most of its area, but has also a "more" area, ...
15
votes
5answers
750 views
Toggle Buttons “Turn On” vs “Enable”
For about a year now, we've used toggle buttons on a couple of segments of our site. We try to be very consistent in our user interfaces, always using the same blue button styles for every clickable ...
15
votes
5answers
593 views
Why do most dashboards use capital words?
Most car manufacturers seem to use ALL CAPS for the interiors's buttons and switches, at least when they are not using symbols. Example:
They even use capitals for things that are not even ...
14
votes
6answers
18k views
Default cursor on mouse over of a button is not a hand pointer
Why is the default cursor an arrow when you hover over an HTML <button>? I always thought that arrows let you select stuff, but hands let you execute an action. Since buttons execute actions, ...
14
votes
6answers
601 views
With 'OK' button, 'Cancel' should appear as secondary button or link?
When I make web application designs, every time I style form or overlay boxes with OK and Cancel button. I think of making them different. But is it a good practice?
Some people recommend primary and ...
14
votes
5answers
778 views
What are the best practices of button alignment?
There are reasons to align buttons to the left, center, or right. What are the best practices of button alignment and what factors should we consider? Which buttons should be on the left, center, and ...
14
votes
4answers
819 views
Can you see a good reason to remove the plus sign in Google Chrome's create tab button?
I am talking about this button:
The plus sign that used to be on that button has been removed in recent versions.
I am very intrigued as to why they might have found it convenient.
I'm a ...
13
votes
4answers
1k views
Should “toggle buttons” show what they do or the system status? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change?
I find inconsistency in "toggle buttons" (I just invented the name now. See ...
13
votes
2answers
274 views
How to avoid “hover and cover” on buttons at the end of a form?
I'm working on an apparently simple interface: 2 input fields right above a series of action buttons. Each button represents a different way to perform the same task (for example wizard, upload a ...
13
votes
2answers
823 views
Button Placement
I'm currently developing a website and we have come across a few things on the placement with buttons that we are unsure about.
The website has a booking process and on this process we have ...
12
votes
6answers
671 views
Can I use “Prev” instead of “Previous” on a button?
We use Next/Previous buttons as controls in our image gallery. I'm in the process of implementing responsive design, so there is a limited amount of space that I can be used for these buttons. I'm ...
12
votes
3answers
526 views
What is the reason for Concave round buttons in Elevators
What is the reason many elevators have concave shaped buttons.
Like this:
Any special reason behind this?
12
votes
5answers
1k views
Too many tabs - use buttons instead?
We have an admin page in our application that has toomanytab-itus (see the second set of tabs are stacking):
I've been tasked with solving this issue. Reorganising/grouping the content to reduce ...
