My initial reaction to Bill Slawski’s Add To Cart Buttons - What do you look for? question was to think only a bunch of web design geeks would dare ask a question like “What do you like in a submit button”, or Cre8asiteforums was desperate for a new usability discussion.
Turns out he found a place with 111 ecommerce buttons and everyone’s acting like there’s a party going on.
I want mine beveled, with a bit hot fudge sauce.
Beveled is nice, but the hot fudge sauce might make a mess of your computer monitor.
I’ve heard you mention before that beveled buttons create the urge in people to push them. So, like it or not, Kim, you were the inspiration for me asking that question in the first place.
It is interesting how different features on a screen can have that kind of effect on folks.
Comment by Bill — May 17, 2007 @ 6:15 am
But it would be so worth it! (The hot fudge, that is…)
Beveled edges fills that human desire to do something active. Pushing buttons gives us power, but I bet most people don’t really look at it quite that way
Comment by Kim Krause Berg — May 17, 2007 @ 6:21 am
Ohhh, but saucy is also sticky, and sticky is a good thing for web pages.
Comment by AbleReach — May 17, 2007 @ 6:37 am
It’s the ONLY link on an E-Comm site that will put money in your pocket.
Understandably, this topic gets a lot of attention from all the ‘geeks’ (er, I mean entrepreneurs) scratching their heads trying to figure out how it can best “yell at the top of it’s lungs” ‘CLICK ME, CLICK ME’ (without being too pushy, of course). :=)
Comment by Respree — May 17, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
I like them beveled and not beveled, styled and unstyled, interactive in most cases (styled or by default), text types and image types… I guess I’m not real picky about buttons. I do like the to have a indicative value such as “Submit.”
One thing I do try to do pretty consistently is to add a cursor style. Pointer, specifically. Since a button is clickable, I tend to prefer the mouse user be presented with the little finger (pointer) instead of the default arrow (default).
I’m not sure if this has any usability value, I sort of doubt it. But then again I don’t think there is any usability penalty either so it’s all good I guess.
Comment by Mike Cherim — May 18, 2007 @ 1:59 am