The top answer references About Face 2.0 which I read at the time and it's still probably the best book on user experience design. I think there's newer editions, but the principles it laid out were really the fundaments that I still live by.
Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
141–150 of 303 posts
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#142RIP Checkbox, 1990-2009, you were perfect and unambiguous but for some reason smartphone designers hated you.
Who created the checkbox widget? System 1 (1984) had check marks on the menu and "x boxes", which are equivalent, but not checkboxes afaik
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#143RIP Checkbox, 1990-2009, you were perfect and unambiguous but for some reason smartphone designers hated you.
Who created the checkbox widget? System 1 (1984) had check marks on the menu and "x boxes", which are equivalent, but not checkboxes afaik
I actually have no idea, I made up 1990 completely, I bet it is way too late. In any case, I guess it is just the digitization of an existing UI element from paper forms, right?
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#144The absolute worst example of this I have seen is the Tesla dashboard screen UI. It shows a car with labels on it, not buttons, that say "Open". That unambiguously means that the particular part is open. But that's not what it means. The labels are in fact buttons to open the parts, and you have no way of knowing.
Can someone make a car which has none of the complicated stuff? List of features I want: - automatic transmission (if ICE) - bluetooth and FM radio - no self steering - cruise control with "follow speed" - not-batshit-insane self-brake-system (use whatever Volvo uses, it works!) - good airbags and decent structural integrity - classic sedan height
Most cars have that feature list, as for the things you dont want, you can just toggle them off or not use them.
Though sedans are a dying breed, so I'd get one sooner rather than later. Everyone and their brother wants SUVs/CUVs and sedan offerings are getting slimer by the month.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#145Yes.
Or both...like a real world toggle switch.
Or have user configurable behavior (an idea that seems to be mostly out of fashion among designers...get off my lawn).
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#146There should be no ambiguity here! A toggle button is an analogue for a physical switch. Unless the switch state is dependent on other switches, it must always display its current state. i.e. ENABLED is always true unless POWER is OFF.
There is ambiguity in the physical world. Some audio equipment have what's called a ground lift. It physically disconnects the ground conductor between two devices, and it's usually a single push-toggle in/out button. I've seen some devices with "Ground On/Off" - does that mean grounded (not lifted) or not grounded (lifted)? IIRC one of the DI boxes I've used is the opposite of what you'd expect - "Off" means lift is…
That is a poor design choice. VERB STATE TRUE is standard for every toggle switch on all my hardware, including prosumer amps. Changing this can be deadly, and was found to be part of the reason for the 737 MAX going down in 2019:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boein...
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#147I think the iOS switch controls are pretty easy to read, even though the only real clue to the state is that off is gray and on is colored.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Ah yeah I know what you mean. For what it is worth, they've been pushing a new gestures system that supercedes the old tool belt buttons. Not sure your tablet has that.
And you probably know now, but just in case Triangle: back Circle: close Square: task manager
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#149This has been really frustrating to me lately with Microsoft Teams. If I'm in their app, the mute button is a microphone with a line through it (if mute is activated, i.e. if the mic is off). And the icon changes to a microphone without the slash over it to indicate that you are no longer muted. Makes sense. But if I join using the phone app on my phone, the same microphone with a line through it (that means you are…
Slack is similarly confusing. I've really never seen a conferencing app that does this well.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Should the LED indicate mute on or mic on? I could see it both ways, and so I would also have a hard time trusting this UI at first.
Should be a text label in present tense not (or not only) an "LED". I like radio buttons but something equally unambiguous could also work. Microphone Status [ ] Muted [x] Unmuted
Amen on radio buttons. It's been really challenging to get UX people in my companies to use these for some reason.