Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change?
Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change?
I have a quick question about buttons that toggle between two states. (Think Play/Pause, or Shuffle/Regular Play.) As the title says, should the toggle show it's current state or the state to which...
This is one of those things that are so easy to over think :) the Play/Pause button (I THINK - NOW I AM NOT SURE) by convention shows the Desired state because you press Play to Start but in other cases I would say it's usually the otherway around. Ie Check Box has a tick/cross etc when it's True/On/Yes/etc. I think the Play/Pause is a convention that is the exception
My rule was generally Verbs show what the button will do, an adjective/description of a state will show what is currently happening.
I thought about it for a bit but Play/Pause is weird. In modern UIs the buttons follow this (⏸ appears when playing and ▶️ appears when paused) but thinking of video and audio hardware like VCRs and DVD players, you'd commonly see "▶️PLAY" and "⏸PAUSE" on the screen after pressing the button which is just feedback to show that the button press worked, but makes it more convoluted in my mind.
I agree with the action as a label.
Since it's a button it should show the state it will change to on clicking it.