User:Mathijs van Oosterhoudt/rwrm/button

The button.

Introduction.

A button might seem like a very simple thing, but it's deceivingly complicated.

This article will aim to dissect the physical push button and coin some simple terms to discuss proper and not-so-proper button design, based on real life user cases. While the focus lays on the physical button, the same information can be applied to digital (Computer, not the binary state which buttons often assume) button design as they tend to mimic their physical brethren. This article ignores the latter as there are no purely digital buttons, they are always paired to a physical one, most notably the computer mouse.

What is a button?

First of all, it's important to understand what a button is. A button is a physical object which offer a way of interaction to it's user, often part of a larger interface (Another wholly complicated and long subject). The form of interaction can be of endless ways, but in all cases the interaction is a means of achieving a goal. To get to that goal, however, we have to overcome certain obstacles. The stages of the button are as follows;

1. Anticipation.
2. Understanding.
3. Interaction
4. Feedback
5. Goal.

These stages altogether can be passed in seconds, but all are present when one presses a button. When one encounters a button, but decides not to press, only the stages up to interaction are followed. -ADD MORE-

Anticipation.

The anticipation is the first stage to pressing a button. Anticipation is generally a state of joy at our encounter of a button. We speculate and ask ourselves questions about this button, questions as "How does it work?" or "What does it do?" and "Am I allowed to press it?". Unique to the interaction phase is that it is the only phase which in itself can be the goal of the interaction. A button can be pressed purely by the anticipation of pressing it, by the desire to understand it or to settle the questions in our head. Funnily enough, the button itself is rarely designed to purely satisfy anticipation. The physical appearance of a button can shape our anticipation enormously. It can either raise questions or answer them, the latter discussed in stage 2. The former can be by it's physical appearance ("Why does it look like it does?") or by it's context ("What is this button doing here?"). -ADD MORE-

Understanding

Understanding is the second stage of pressing a button. It is the user's attempt to settle the questions raised in the anticipation stage before actually making a conscious decision to press the button. The questions can be answered in a multitude of ways, whether it is the physical appearance of the button ("If it's locked behind glass, I probably shouldn't press it."), by the contextual location of the button ("It's on a door, so it most likely opens the door.") or by simply mimicking others and examining their results ("That user pressed the button and got a cookie, if I press the button I will also get a cookie"). -ADD MORE-

Interaction

Interaction is the third stage of pressing a button. This is where the user will have made his or her decision about what the button does, how it must be pressed, and whether to press it or not. It sets the inner mechanisms of the button in working, either by completing a circuit, breaking a circuit or triggering a chain of mechanical movements. -ADD MORE-

Feedback

Feedback is the fourth stage of pressing a button. It is one of the most important parts of the design of the button, as it is one of the few key moments where you can directly feed the user the correct and needed information that he or she desires. There are multiple forms of feedback:

Praising

The button praises the user for the interaction. It lets the user know through various methods that, yes, you did indeed press the button, and you did well doing so.

Criticizing

The button criticizes the user fo the interaction. It lets the user know through various methods that, yes, you did indeed press the button, but unlike praise, it was not a good idea to do so.

Neutral

The button does not give the user any feedback on whether it did the right thing, but does let the user know that it was indeed pressed.

None

The button does not let the user know whether it was a good or a bad thing that it was pressed, nor does it confirm that it was pressed. -ADD MORE-

Goal

The goal is the fifth and last stage of pressing a button. The goal rewards the user for pressing the button. -ADD WAY MORE-

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