Two actions in a single row : iPhone

Question

I need some suggestions about a single row with multiple actions.

I need to give two actions for single row, refer the attached image:

1. Details
2. Like History about access for the contact

Is this usable? Will a user know about these actions?

Please advise me, can I use both actions or only one action?

Answer 1

You can use two actions in a row, Apple does support that with its standard UI elements. Its called the Detail Disclosure button.

* *

Users tap a detail disclosure button to reveal additional information or functionality related to a specific item. The additional details or functionality are revealed in a separate view.

* From IOS Human Interface Guidelines

Example Screenshot:

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Answer 2

I think you can, regardless of the phone OS. If you take a look at Windpws Phone Call History, you have two different actions on the same row. The first item is an icon of a phone, and on key press you will call that person. The second item is the name, which on key press will lead to that persons contact information:

But to make this work you'll need a good representative for history, where an arrow would be hard to guess wharer it'll take your users. There are history icons available, but you could also try out a button labeled "history".

On Apple iPhone I think you can use a similar icon as of the time machine, which could look like this:

Answer 3

This is a fairly standard approach. My phone (not a smart phone) uses a similar approach for the contacts list. On the list the names are presented next to a phone icon. Click the name and you get the contact details, click the phone and you call that person.

Your users should either be familiar with this type of interaction or will soon get used to it.

Answer 4

You can easily have up to four or five actions in a UITableViewCell if you desire. Even apple's native apps have this (ex. itunes has a preview for the first 80px, a detail info for the next 260px and a purchase for the rest...)

Like this:

So you go on ahead and make as many as you see fit. Just make sure to program your touch gesture recognizers so they dont mix up scrolling gestures with tap gestures.

Answer 5

This is a commonly used technique by most phone OS's as well as many apps. I have found that one must be very careful using this technique because in reality not everyone has the same finger size.

For example my father has relatively large hands and fingers and he absolutely hates when apps have this feature. I on the other hand have relatively small fingers and I don't find this to be a problem at all.

In the end the thing that you must be sure of is that the area of the secondary button is large enough to accommodate larger finger sizes.