January 31, 2006

Caroline's Rules for labelling Buttons

1. Label the button with what it does.
2. If the user doesn't want to do it, don't have a button for it.

Read Caroline's nice, short article on the topic:
http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article2949.asp

Related Info:

- MS Windows Interface Components - Controls - has a section on command buttons

- Apple Human Interface Guidelines > Controls > Buttons

- IBM: Using Web widgets wisely, Part 1 - Has a short section on command buttons

- Alertbox: Reset and Cancel Buttons - covers issues around using the dreaded reset button on web forms

- The Piece of HTML created just for Me: Reset - Caroline's explanation of why you should scrap your reset button.

- Usability.gov Research-Based Guidelines > Screen Based Controls (PDF) - discusses "PushButtons"
New Year, New Job, New Posts
Wow! It's been two months since my last post...I can't believe it. Well, I'm planning to change that and post more frequently. (Publicly declaring that means I'm all the more likely to actually do it.)

I recently took a new job...leaving my position as User Experience Director at Cargill. Cargill's a great place to work, and I really enjoyed the time there and will really miss the people I worked with there. Perhaps more on the new job later.