Comments on: The Curious Case of the Gmail Buttons http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons designing user experiences Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:48:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jon http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons/comment-page-1#comment-70620 Jon Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:41:16 +0000 http://www.andersramsay.com/?p=351#comment-70620 I've lost my buttons altogether - well... there are three of them present (without any labels to identify them visually). They seem to work OK when I hover over them with the mouse I can identify them (preview shows what they are) but they are essentially "blind click" buttons now - Anyone else have this problem? Solution? I'm running updated MSW7 and always update my computer regularly... not sure what happened but the new "look" isn't helping me much at the moment. I’ve lost my buttons altogether – well… there are three of them present (without any labels to identify them visually). They seem to work OK when I hover over them with the mouse I can identify them (preview shows what they are) but they are essentially “blind click” buttons now – Anyone else have this problem? Solution? I’m running updated MSW7 and always update my computer regularly… not sure what happened but the new “look” isn’t helping me much at the moment.

]]> By: Anders http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons/comment-page-1#comment-11430 Anders Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:24:49 +0000 http://www.andersramsay.com/?p=351#comment-11430 Hi Damon - I'm going to check out <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Information-Dashboard-Design-Effective-Communication/dp/0596100167" rel="nofollow">Information Dashboard Design</a>. Looks like an interesting read. On one hand, I definitely agree that use of icons would make something like a delete button pop, such as using a trash can or a red circle with an 'x' in it or whatever. I'm guessing one reason they didn't use icons don't scale that well and get less useful for less common operations, such as "Mark as Read" - a Labs feature I added - not sure what the icon would be for that. Hi Damon – I’m going to check out Information Dashboard Design. Looks like an interesting read.

On one hand, I definitely agree that use of icons would make something like a delete button pop, such as using a trash can or a red circle with an ‘x’ in it or whatever. I’m guessing one reason they didn’t use icons don’t scale that well and get less useful for less common operations, such as “Mark as Read” – a Labs feature I added – not sure what the icon would be for that.

]]> By: Damon Poole http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons/comment-page-1#comment-11409 Damon Poole Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:57:38 +0000 http://www.andersramsay.com/?p=351#comment-11409 I don't remember which book I got this concept from, perhaps "Information Dashboard Design" which shouldn't contain the word dashboard as it is a great book whether you want to do dashboards or not, but basically if you have them flush, your eye/brain can't help you. Your eye/brain can do amazing things for you almost instantaneously without you consciously thinking about it for things that match certain criteria for patterns. And when you ignore these things in your design, the user ends up having to use their slow conscious thinking process. "Let's see, that's a button I guess, but it isn't delete, how about the next section?" Personally, I think they should use some icons because then your eye/brain can *really* help you out: no slow reading is required. I don’t remember which book I got this concept from, perhaps “Information Dashboard Design” which shouldn’t contain the word dashboard as it is a great book whether you want to do dashboards or not, but basically if you have them flush, your eye/brain can’t help you. Your eye/brain can do amazing things for you almost instantaneously without you consciously thinking about it for things that match certain criteria for patterns. And when you ignore these things in your design, the user ends up having to use their slow conscious thinking process. “Let’s see, that’s a button I guess, but it isn’t delete, how about the next section?”

Personally, I think they should use some icons because then your eye/brain can *really* help you out: no slow reading is required.

]]> By: Anders http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons/comment-page-1#comment-11383 Anders Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:49:23 +0000 http://www.andersramsay.com/?p=351#comment-11383 My understanding of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts%27_law" rel="nofollow">Fitts Law</a> is that it relates to targeting in relationship to size and distance. I guess this could be interpreted to imply that there should be no distance between buttons. But it would seem as if other factors are at play here, such as the ability to visually distinguish where one button ends and another begins. The current design, with a 1-pixel border, doesn't make that easy at all. In other words, when I want to use the delete button, it is not so much an issue of being able to target the button with my mouse, and really more an issue of being able to <em>see</em> where it is. Applying Fitts law, then, the decision to place the buttons flush against one another should perhaps have been accompanied by also making them somewhat larger. My understanding of Fitts Law is that it relates to targeting in relationship to size and distance. I guess this could be interpreted to imply that there should be no distance between buttons. But it would seem as if other factors are at play here, such as the ability to visually distinguish where one button ends and another begins. The current design, with a 1-pixel border, doesn’t make that easy at all. In other words, when I want to use the delete button, it is not so much an issue of being able to target the button with my mouse, and really more an issue of being able to see where it is. Applying Fitts law, then, the decision to place the buttons flush against one another should perhaps have been accompanied by also making them somewhat larger.

]]> By: Christopher Fahey http://www.andersramsay.com/2009/02/07/the-curious-case-of-the-gmail-buttons/comment-page-1#comment-11381 Christopher Fahey Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:28:25 +0000 http://www.andersramsay.com/?p=351#comment-11381 Fitt's Law, in fact, suggests that menu buttons *should* be flush against each other, preventing another kind of micro-annoyance -- missing a button entirely because you've clicked on the small gap in between them, or just plain spending extra time aiming at a button and avoiding clicking the gap between the buttons. I've long been of the school of thought that moving from one button to another in a toolbar or menu area should produce no flashing cursors and no "dead spaces" between buttons. This structure should absolutely be combined with a clear rollover state behavior indicating which button you are rolling over (I don't use gmail so I don't know if the new or old UI had this) -- this corrects errors of pressing the wrong button better than simply putting a safety gap between the buttons. Fitt’s Law, in fact, suggests that menu buttons *should* be flush against each other, preventing another kind of micro-annoyance — missing a button entirely because you’ve clicked on the small gap in between them, or just plain spending extra time aiming at a button and avoiding clicking the gap between the buttons. I’ve long been of the school of thought that moving from one button to another in a toolbar or menu area should produce no flashing cursors and no “dead spaces” between buttons. This structure should absolutely be combined with a clear rollover state behavior indicating which button you are rolling over (I don’t use gmail so I don’t know if the new or old UI had this) — this corrects errors of pressing the wrong button better than simply putting a safety gap between the buttons.

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