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Is it good practice to put same action button in both Action Bar and screen content? Let's say I have following screen structure:

enter image description here

On object list screen user can navigate to the object overview by clicking list item. Following screen contains title, image and some text. At first I only used Action Bar icon to let user go to the detail screen but lately I realized that the icon meaning may not be clear enough for all of the users. So I've decided to put a button inside the screen as well. Now I don't know if I should keep both icon and button or if I should use only the button. Does it matter or I'm just overthinking here?

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Normally, I might suggest both, as there is no harm giving the user extra help....

However, what you really need is to increase the visibility of the button so that it cannot be missed by anyone wanting extra detail.

show detail

This is much clearer than the arrow at the top, the purpose of which is not obvious. It could conceiveably:

  • take you to a screen with more details
  • take you to the next item in the object list
  • take you to another part of the application
  • leave the user thinking: i'm not sure what it does, so I won't click it
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  • So I should put more emphasis on the button and remove the icon? I'd like to follow new guidelines (google.com/design/spec/components/buttons.html#) and it would be probably best to use flat icon design here. Aug 19, 2014 at 11:30
  • Yes. The meaning of the icon is too vague. If you're worried that the button alone might not be enough, then you can give it more emphasis. The other advantage of the button is that it is inside the object overview (where as the icon is outside). This makes it more obvious that the purpose of the button is related to the object. This is not true of the arrow icon.
    – Paul S
    Aug 19, 2014 at 14:51
  • Ok, I'll give it a try. I guess I'll also try some usability testing with few people. Aug 19, 2014 at 14:56

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