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My app allows users to send messages to each other (among other things).

My send button is placed at the very bottom of the screen and takes up the full width of the screen.

send

I have introduced a new feature that allows messages to be viewed by other people, in other words, it allows you to make your message public.

All messages will be public by default now but i want to add something to the SEND bar that allows the user to make the message private.

I was thinking of some of the following ideas:

  • split the button 70 / 30 and add a private button
  • add a checkbox to the send button
  • add a toggle to the send button

Does anyone else have any other ideas? Thanks in advance for your help.

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    If the message was originally private, making it now public by default will probably irate quite a few of your users (it is one of the things which would make me consider to quit using a program or service). After all, it might cause a truly private message to be inadvertently published by someone who didn't notice the change. BTW, what about making an interface to publish message previously sent as private? That way, the functionality would also apply to messages sent before you introduced the publishing feature.
    – celtschk
    Aug 31, 2014 at 9:38
  • Hi, it depends if the user is relying to a message or sending a new message. I had thought about that too, and hence wanted to keep the option on the send button and not on another screen, as somotimes (when replying) you won't get to the contacts screen
    – oo7
    Aug 31, 2014 at 19:08
  • Why not add a padlock button next to the send button that you can toggle to either make them private or public? Also, it doesn't have to be 70 / 30 per se.
    – Vince C
    Sep 1, 2014 at 10:57
  • Thanks guys... I want to keep the UI snappy with less tapping so I'd like to use a feature that: - was clear that you were not sending as private - doesn't require several additional taps to make it private (if you need to keep it private) - entices users to send most messages as public But I think more users would start using the private feature, which reduces overall content for other users, even when though all public messages will show up as anonymous to begin with and the content within the app is of an open nature. I'm not sure what the best UI would be?
    – oo7
    Sep 1, 2014 at 20:28

1 Answer 1

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I like the way Ghost does it.

This is the 'New Post' screen:

In the right (in your case it's a full width button), you see 'Save Draft'. If you click on the arrow next to it, you'll see:

If you click on 'Publish Now', the button has changed:

In your case, you could do that with 'Public' and 'Private'. I'd prefer to make the default 'Public'.

Just one more thing, don't make all of the current items public if their private at the moment - it's very unhandy (and usual...)

I hope this will inspire you :)

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