When developing my web applications, I usually tend to have an icon/button per feature/function and place it in a way that it is easily accessible without distracting the user during his usual work. However, I often have confrontations with part of management because they feel certain buttons should be on multiple places and be as visible as possible.
What is your take on this? Should buttons/functionality within the same context have one place were the user should always look for it (my approach), or should buttons be duplicated to all places were the user might need them (management's approach).
Examples:
- Put another edit
button right beside the tabs of a config-screen to get to the edit-mode to the app because the edit
option is inside a toolbar-menu and not visible right away
- Put a save
button above and below a textarea
because the user could either be finishing typing (lower save
is close) or finishing reading the preview (upper save
is close)
Our reasoning behind the debate:
my approach:
+ slick design
+ unused icons stay hidden
+ structure
- user's without prior exposure to the software might need to look up the features/search
management's approach
+ functions are visible where they are needed
- redundant UI-components for the very same function
- disorganized look and feel
- UI bloat
I reckon that the reasoning seems biased, but that's why I am asking. What approach results in a better UI?