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Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change? (ux.stackexchange.com)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

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.