Projects/Usability/HIG/Toggle Buttons: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:07, 26 September 2013

Purpose

Toggle buttons look similar to regular buttons, but are used to show or change a state rather than initiate an action. A toggle button's two states, set and unset, are shown by its appearing "pushed in" or "popped out" respectively.

Toggle buttons are a valid option to indicate a state with the advance of using an icon. Compared to the related radio button or check box they are an efficient way to save screen space. But toggle buttons should be used with care outside a toolbar because the state is not clearly indicated.

Example

Guidelines

Is this the right control

Use a toggle button to indicate a state if no other control apply, i.e. in case of the toolbar.
Prefer radio buttons or check boxes outside the toolbar.

Behavior

Group toggle buttons in case of multiple selection.
Separate toggle buttons from other controls, so they are not mistaken for push buttons.
Do not use a toggle button to initiate an action.
Do not change the label according the button state.

Appearance

Align groups of toggle buttons horizontally rather than vertically.
Provide an access key in the label of all toggle buttons that allows the user to set or unset the button directly from the keyboard.

Implementation

[1] for generic buttons. [2] is used to generate buttons in toolbars.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-A toggle button is a button which stays down when clicked once and goes up when clicked a second time.
+__NOTOC__
-==When to use==
+== Purpose ==
+''Toggle buttons'' look similar to regular buttons, but are used to show or change a state rather than initiate an action. A toggle button's two states, set and unset, are shown by its appearing "pushed in" or "popped out" respectively.
-Use a toggle button to indicate a ''state'' rather than an ''action''. For example a word-processor would use toggle buttons to indicate the state of "Bold", "Italic" or "Underline" formatting.
+Toggle buttons are a valid option to indicate a state with the advance of using an icon. Compared to the related radio button or check box they are an efficient way to save screen space. But toggle buttons should be used with care outside a toolbar because the state is not clearly indicated.
-==Do and don't==
+== Example ==
-Do not change the icon or label of a toggle button. The fact that it is pressed down is enough.
+== Guidelines ==
+=== Is this the right control ===
-Since a toggle button represents a state, in most cases the label should be a noun rather than a verb.
+* Use a toggle button to indicate a state if no other control apply, i.e. in case of the [[Projects/Usability/HIG/toolbar|toolbar]].
+* Prefer [[Projects/Usability/HIG/Radio_Buttons|radio buttons]] or [[Projects/Usability/HIG/Check_Box|check boxes]] outside the toolbar.
+=== Behavior ===
+* Group toggle buttons in case of multiple selection.
+* Separate toggle buttons from other controls, so they are not mistaken for push buttons.
+* Do not use a toggle button to initiate an action.
+* Do not change the label according the button state.
+=== Appearance ===
+* Align groups of toggle buttons horizontally rather than vertically.
+* Provide an access key in the label of all toggle buttons that allows the user to set or unset the button directly from the keyboard.
+== Implementation ==
+[http://api.kde.org/4.10-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kdeui/html/classKPushButton.html#KPushButton] for generic buttons.
+[http://api.kde.org/4.10-api/kdelibs-apidocs/kdeui/html/classKAction.html#KAction] is used to generate buttons in toolbars.