CHI-WEB Archives

ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)

CHI-WEB@LISTSERV.ACM.ORG

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Mime-Version:
1.0
Sender:
"ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
Hal Shubin <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 4 Dec 1998 15:04:31 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Reply-To:
Hal Shubin <[log in to unmask]>
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (28 lines)
I'm designing a typical Web application. When a task on an object is
complete, I'm offering the user two choices: return to the page where the
object was selected, or go on to do a related task on the same object. I
don't think the specifics matter.

I initially did this using buttons. (Could be command buttons or GIFs.)
Then I thought that plain old underlined text links would be better. The
graphic designer I work with pushes me to use text links because they're
cleaner looking -- the GIF or button is invariably larger than the
surrounding text and throws off the appearance. One reason is familiarity:
people coming from Windows/Mac/etc are used to buttons to make actions
happen. Web users are accustomed to text links for navigation. Of course,
you can think of an action as a navigation that has a side effect.

I've typically used GIFs or buttons for actions and text links for simple
navigation. The lines are, of course, blurry. Feel free to comment on my
current situation, but I'm really interested in how people handle this in
general: when would you use a button and when would you use a text link?

thanks                                  -- hs

(I thought this might have been covered already, but a quick search in the
archives said no. Thanks for the pointer, Keith.)

Hal Shubin, Interaction Design, Inc.
http://www.user.com
617 489 6595 voice, 617 489 7395 fax

ATOM RSS1 RSS2