Website Design: The expression of "status" and "action" in the user interface design

　　

 

　　I. Thinking About Problems

A while ago, When I discussed a small demand with my colleagues, I encountered a conflict between buttons indicating "action" and "status. I have already discussed this issue many years ago. So I will sort out my ideas and share them with you.

　　

 

The specific case is as follows: As shown in, does this button indicate "status" or "action" when "enable" or "Disable" Search customization? To put it simply, "1" indicates whether the current operation is disabled, or does it mean that the operation is disabled after a click? The answer is clearly unclear.

How can we clearly express the differences between the two and reduce users' misunderstandings? First, we should start with the definition of "action" and "state" and the relationship between them.

　　2. What is action and status?

Action refers to a movement that has a certain motivation and purpose and points to a certain object.

Status refers to the form of people or things.

In combination, action is a movement that promotes a person or thing to change a certain state, and state is the result of action. Therefore, the two are often closely related and sometimes even mutually conditional.

For example, to "operate the radio", I need to twist the knob or press a button to turn on the radio. After the operation is complete, the radio is in the "open" status ". The premise of "disabling" the radio is a "on" radio.

It sounds complicated! "Many people think so. Why do we rarely feel like this in our daily lives?

Let's take a look at the examples in our lives. We may be able to understand them.

　　3. Examples in life

1. electric switch

　　

 

「 Figure 1 」

Single control switch, one of our most common switches, is extremely simple in design. One side is open while the other side is off. As for whether the service is on or off, few people will be particularly concerned about it. Because I tried this operation twice, it was almost no cost. People don't feel uncomfortable.

Of course, there are still better designs.

　　

 

「 Figure 2 」

2. Ipod HOLD

　　

 

Figure 3 」

The key lock function of Apple's Ipod player is "HOLD ". When the switch is switched to the "HOLD" side, red is displayed on the left. There is no color to move to the other side. The clever use of the effect of colors on people's psychological characteristics differentiates the hold state.