Is labeling my button as "Back" too general?

Question

I have an application that has a variety of different panels on it (similar to a dashboard of sorts) and I'm struggling with how to inform my users about a specific Back button and how to label it.

Currently, this portion of the dashboard looks something like this:

There are summary stats at the top, then various types of charts below it. When the user clicks on a specific sale (the main table), they will get specific statistics related to that sale. When the user clicks once, the layout becomes this:

The back button only controls the statistics panel, so if the user clicks Back, it will take them back to the Summary Stats. The table of sales won't change and the charts on the bottom won't change. How do I:

1. Let my user's know that the Back button exists and
2. Make sure they understand that it only applies to the Summary Stats panel and not the whole application

Will users intuitively know that the Back button is referring to the stats panel or do I need to give them more direction and label it something like Back to Summary Stats?

Answer 1

You would need to test it out but I believe that one of these buttons would more clearly communicate the described action to the user...

Answer 2

Another thing that might work is to use tabs which mark the Summary Stats rectangle...

then automatically switch context over to Specific Stats as needed in your example above but leaving a clear way back for the user...

Answer 3

I am feeling lucky : How about a simple arrow icons (<) on the right hand side or as an icon on the left (Back icon) Specific Stats . Nicely done visually. Instead of even writing Back. I feel its pretty clear even if users did this once.

I think "Back to Summary" is ok. (are you having space and visual clutter issues then my suggestion is don't try this)

I am not in favor of hovering. If the user wants to pay attention to the detail info it quickly becomes annoying. Some users may not be dexterous enough.

Answer 4

Labeling the button "back" may be general but that's the appropriate label.

From your description, "Summary stats" and "Charts" are not related with each other.

In this case you can consider a separation between them like the below.

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In these cases the user will know that the "back" button will refresh only the stats and not the charts. Also you can have the button as "back" itself.

Answer 5

I would suggest a pop-over that has a 'close' button for the detail view.

Otherwise, if it's purely desktop, could hovering the table data expose the detail info?