I demand EU legislation!
Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
251–260 of 303 posts
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#252This 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…
IMO "muting" as a user-facing concept should be done away with.
It's inherently negative, basically meaning "not enabled" and as such, `not muted` == `not not enabled`.
Just say whether their mic is on or off, and reflect that with the UX elements and writing. Done.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#253In 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 )
While the NEC does not specify light switch toggle orientation, there seems to be a general convention among electricians and installers for the toggle switch to be positioned up for "on" and down for "off."
In the United States at least. I spent a few years in Australia and it was universally the opposite!
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
My table saw has this as well. A green and red light, both with off/steady/blink states that indicates information about the blade and safety system.
Mine has this as well! I like the UX, but it's also kind of crazy that they didn't think about red/green colorblind users.
colorblindness would have no effect on this ux pattern
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#255I once worked on an Optical Image Stabilisation system for mobile phones. I'd updated the stock Android camera app to show some icons from marketing for when the shake compensation was on / off.
The icon for when compensation was on was a shaky camera. When it was off, it was a shaky camera with a line through it...
Except, we asked, wouldn't the other way round make more sense? Doesn't line through shaky camera suggest we're removing the shake?
We ended up using the icons and just colouring them green for "on" and red for "off" and hoping people would figure out what we meant. And, yes, that would still be unhelpful for colour blind users!
User interfaces are hard.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#256Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every single time I'm on desktop and I see a GUI that sucks, I know it's mobile's fault. Why this button so big? Mobile. Why spacing? Mobile. Why this list of 6 clickable items with one line of text each takes up my whole screen's vertical space? Mobile. Why no more status bars and tooltips? Because you can't hover on mobile. Why is the filter of this table below the table instead of above the table's headers? Becaus…
Screen size isn’t the problem for mobile, it’s tap targets
As someone using a pinephone (and thus running desktop apps on a phone screen), this is why I often leave the screen scaling at 200%...
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#258This has been one of my biggest eternal dilemmas in UI/UX/programming!
• The ideal would be to show both states: "Muted → Unmute" on the button label. Click it and it becomes "Unmuted → Mute". If there isn't enough space, maybe just add a " → " at the end to denote that the displayed state will change to something else when you click on it.
• Or just make it look like a physical electric switch with "On" & "Off" printed on opposite sides.
• or a hover effect: "Muted" or [Crossed Microphone Icon] becomes "Unmute" / [Microphone Icon] when you hover the mouse or hold the finger on it. The icon should also change color between red/green or dim/lit to further emphasize the actual state.
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that checkboxes are perfect; but that's because I never try to fill forms on a smartphone. Native browser checkboxes are often unusable on smartphones; too small to hit with a thumb.
Properly designed, the tapping/clicking the text should also trigger the checkbox.
Then it triggers when I scroll - there's no place to click/tap safely. And worse, it can toggle and then scroll off the screen before I notice. Then I end up signed up for their marketing emails! :)
Seriously, why not bigger checkboxes?
Re: Should toggle button show its current state or the state to which it'll change? (2010)
#260This 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…
IS THIS WHY NOBODY CAN EVER HEAR ME ON TEAMS ON MY PHONE!? I thought it was just super slow to connect and never worked. This would explain alot.