Blooper 11: Using Command Buttons as Toggles

From GUI Bloopers, by Jeff Johnson (Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2000). Used without permission.

What's wrong with these?

• In the first example, there are three command buttons; instead of performing commands in the same form, one launches a command and the other two are toggles.
• In the second example, mixed in with "real" command buttons, the "Two Page" button toggles two-page display mode, while when in two-page mode, the button text changes to "One Page," thus making it a toggle.
• In the third example, it is unclear that the button is a toggle until used, because Music Notation and Chord Chart aren't intuitively opposite each other.

Design Rule: Command Buttons Are For Invoking Commands or Initiating Events.

What's right about this?

In the first example, the command buttons initiate commands, such as compiling or bringing up the print dialog (note the "..." after "Print"). The command buttons revert to an unpressed state when the command is done.

Some GUI toolkits have toggle buttons which look like command buttons. In the second example, the "Boldface" button is one such button, but notice that the button remains in the depressed state when pressed. This shows that the state of the button is ON.

The third example shows specialized toggle buttons, for expand/contract and open/closed. These have definite ways of showing their states, and they cannot be mistaken for command buttons.

March 24, 2005

Images from GUI Bloopers, by Jeff Johnson. Used without permission.