I do keep doing it myself but combining multiple things into one button is a bad idea. What if the toggle action is just slightly delayed? What if the system is frozen, do you press toggle again? when do you know your click didn't register? Was freezing not annoying enough by it self?
Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
11–20 of 303 posts
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#12I can’t find it but one of my favourite designs was a switch with a “light” beside it that lit up when the state was “on.” The best thing was that it also solved the latency of an async operation. You’d click the switch which toggled, and then some moment later the light came on. It felt incredibly satisfying and gave confidence that yes, this interaction has done something.
Without seeing the design in question, I think this still demonstrates the ambiguity the post is discussing. Is the icon what will happen, or what is currently happening? Is it the state, or is it the action? Maybe this particular design was unambiguous, but the description of it isn't.
If the light is beside the switch (rather than being the switch) then I'd say it clearly and unambiguously indicates the current state of whatever the switch operates?
(A light also has the advantage of being a skeuomorph - much as those are now out of fashion - we all know how to interpret indicator lights in the real world.)
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#13The solution that reliably works are lots of switches on the same screen. The user extrapolates from a single known state.
Mobile users might be confused about whether Auto-Rotate is on, but they do know whether Airplane mode is on.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#14The link should include a year in parantheses, as it's a 13 year old question.
It has answers as recent as 2022 though and it could get more answers now that it is on HN. What's the accepted practice for putting year in parentheses for links like this that contain user-written content that could be much more recent than when the link was created?
> What's the accepted practice
How about (2002-?)
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#15Using words often works. But let me chime in with some outrage about the icons on an Android tablet - a triangle, circle and square with no discoverability and no ability to add text to icons on the home screen? WTF?
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#16[deleted]
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#17In defense of the ambiguity of digital toggles, I’d like to add that this is unsolved on most, if not all, physical light switches in homes and offices.
Despite having existed for more than 50 years and most people are using multiple toggles a day with its labels, most people are unaware of the meaning of power symbol (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_symbol)
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#18Using words often works. But let me chime in with some outrage about the icons on an Android tablet - a triangle, circle and square with no discoverability and no ability to add text to icons on the home screen? WTF?
Can you clarify what you mean for discoverability?
As for the 2nd one, I would download a different launcher. I know Nova lets you do that.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#19In defense of the ambiguity of digital toggles, I’d like to add that this is unsolved on most, if not all, physical light switches in homes and offices. Despite having existed for more than 50 years and most people are using multiple toggles a day with its labels, most people are unaware of the meaning of power symbol ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_symbol )
Really? For me this always made intuitive sense reading it as one and zero, where zero would be off.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#20Using words often works. But let me chime in with some outrage about the icons on an Android tablet - a triangle, circle and square with no discoverability and no ability to add text to icons on the home screen? WTF?
Can you clarify what you mean for discoverability? As for the 2nd one, I would download a different launcher. I know Nova lets you do that.
I mean that it's impossible to discover what will happen when I push on them before I do it.
I'll take a look at Nova. Thanks.