4 ms·

Sorry, but those buttons are absolutely atrocious. I get that underlined links aren't that great, but I'd much prefer it to that. Or maybe something like this:

Sorry, but those buttons are absolutely atrocious. I get that underlined links aren't that great, but I'd much prefer it to that. Or maybe something like this: https://dribbble.com/shots/7299868-Download-Buttons https://dribbble.com/shots/7299868-Download-Buttons

Finnucane 7y ago
Many of your users would probably disagree.
- dubcanada 7y ago
  Many of Hacker News visitors would probably disagree. What most of us don't seem to understand is what Hacker News says is not the common statement of most. People here tend to be on the less design side of things, most on the can I use this entirely with my keyboard. Most of the population however is not like that. I don't see any statistics that the average user has any preference over which button to use out of the 3 examples provided. I think most users would assume buttons are supposed to look like the sites/apps they visit/use most, amazon, facebook, google, instagram, etc. If you button functions similar to those examples your users would be happy.
  - shantly 7y ago
    Normal users tend to be "less on the design side" when it comes to actual usability. They might (or might not—I don't think most companies bother to find out) care that you came up with some hot-shit pretty design that impressed the VPs, but for UX the more "designery" your site the greater the odds it'll be hard for normal people to use. [EDIT] which is to say I think a lot of application design hours/$s have more to do with cargo-cult "brand styling" from the marketing department, and internal promotion of a project + personal portfolio-building and design-insider signaling than with benefits to end-user marketing, sales, or usability. It's not all useless from that perspective, obviously, but I'm very confident a lot of it is.
  - majewsky 7y ago
    > People here tend to be on the less design side of things, most on the can I use this entirely with my keyboard. Wrong dichotomy. "Design" is not about the amount of eye-candy. Design is about how to make a product so that the user can use it most effectively. Making it visually appealing is an integral part of that, but only part of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#%22Good_design%22_principles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#%22Good_design%22_...
- simonklitj 7y ago
  Really? I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. I know most of my friends are hit by nostalgia when they see something Skeuomorphic, sort of a "Remember when things were this way?", and I honestly do not want any of my products to perpetuate this emotion.
  - NotATroll 7y ago
    > I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. I personally doubt users would know the word Skeuomorphic, let alone care what the button looks like. > and I honestly do not want any of my products to perpetuate this emotion. Why would you not want nostalgia? There are entire product brands built on taking advantage of nostalgia. And nostalgia doesn't even imply "Hah, this is old and inferior".
    - dorkwood 7y ago
      > Why would you not want nostalgia? There are entire product brands built on taking advantage of nostalgia. Surely that's not appropriate for every brand, though? Especially if you're trying to look cutting-edge.
      - NotATroll 7y ago
        I think it genuinely depends on what your users are nostalgic over. You can look cutting edge while taking advantage of nostalgia. To be entirely honest, the "flat design" doesn't look "cutting-edge". It looks basic, which is because, well. It is. Intentionally so. If users don't care what your buttons look like, why spend tons of time making them look a specific style. That's just more time spent. I'd argue that the reason it's become so prevalent, is exactly that. Less time spent designing, more time spent on features.
  - alxlaz 7y ago
    > Really? I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. Have you tested this assumption, or is it simply something that you suspect? There's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but don't mistake it for an analysis!
jefftk 7y ago
You've linked to animated download buttons. Are you being serious?
- simonklitj 7y ago
  What's wrong with it being a download button? Does it have to be a "Cancel" or "Yes" button for the example to apply? But sure, they're animated. I'm referring to the design of the buttons, not the animations. Try this on for size: https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls I don't get this obsession with Skeumorphism. IMO it's not a good look and should be left in the 2000's.
  - Angostura 7y ago
    The very word 'button' is is a skeuomorphism referring to a physical object. There is nothing wrong with visual cues hinting at a physical button if you are going to call the object a button.
    - indymike 7y ago
      A lot of hate for skeumorphism comes from using ux that resemble or preserve obsolete physical objects. Like floppy disks, corded desk phones, flip phones or analog clocks. Buttons are great. We still press lots of them every day.
  - fortydegrees 7y ago
    Buttons are for pressing, not for displaying information.
  - neogodless 7y ago
    Personally, I find that animated buttons scream "ads" to me. And animated "download" buttons scream "malware ads"!
x3haloed 7y ago
I think the buttons are a little much, but they are also very obviously buttons, which is good for usability.
- simonklitj 7y ago
  Sure, but I think something like this: https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls is just a obviously a button. I might be wrong.
  - pdpi 7y ago
    You can't decide whether it's "obviously a button" in isolation. Depends entirely on how that particular element fits into the rest of the page. The only exception I can think of is that it's obviously a button if it uses system controls.
    - munmaek 7y ago
      Those are quite obviously buttons. The difference is the design is flat versus the style in the post. Those are a thousand times better than "buttons" that are just underlined text.
      - ASalazarMX 7y ago
        Or simply bold blue text.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - x3haloed 7y ago
      Things that look real-world buttons or switches are more obviously a button in isolation than things that require a lot of context. Things can look "pressable" without context.
  - squeaky-clean 7y ago

Finnucane 7y ago

Many of your users would probably disagree.

dubcanada 7y ago
Many of Hacker News visitors would probably disagree. What most of us don't seem to understand is what Hacker News says is not the common statement of most. People here tend to be on the less design side of things, most on the can I use this entirely with my keyboard. Most of the population however is not like that. I don't see any statistics that the average user has any preference over which button to use out of the 3 examples provided. I think most users would assume buttons are supposed to look like the sites/apps they visit/use most, amazon, facebook, google, instagram, etc. If you button functions similar to those examples your users would be happy.
- shantly 7y ago
  Normal users tend to be "less on the design side" when it comes to actual usability. They might (or might not—I don't think most companies bother to find out) care that you came up with some hot-shit pretty design that impressed the VPs, but for UX the more "designery" your site the greater the odds it'll be hard for normal people to use. [EDIT] which is to say I think a lot of application design hours/$s have more to do with cargo-cult "brand styling" from the marketing department, and internal promotion of a project + personal portfolio-building and design-insider signaling than with benefits to end-user marketing, sales, or usability. It's not all useless from that perspective, obviously, but I'm very confident a lot of it is.
- majewsky 7y ago
  > People here tend to be on the less design side of things, most on the can I use this entirely with my keyboard. Wrong dichotomy. "Design" is not about the amount of eye-candy. Design is about how to make a product so that the user can use it most effectively. Making it visually appealing is an integral part of that, but only part of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#%22Good_design%22_principles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#%22Good_design%22_...
simonklitj 7y ago
Really? I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. I know most of my friends are hit by nostalgia when they see something Skeuomorphic, sort of a "Remember when things were this way?", and I honestly do not want any of my products to perpetuate this emotion.
- NotATroll 7y ago
  > I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. I personally doubt users would know the word Skeuomorphic, let alone care what the button looks like. > and I honestly do not want any of my products to perpetuate this emotion. Why would you not want nostalgia? There are entire product brands built on taking advantage of nostalgia. And nostalgia doesn't even imply "Hah, this is old and inferior".
  - dorkwood 7y ago
    > Why would you not want nostalgia? There are entire product brands built on taking advantage of nostalgia. Surely that's not appropriate for every brand, though? Especially if you're trying to look cutting-edge.
    - NotATroll 7y ago
      I think it genuinely depends on what your users are nostalgic over. You can look cutting edge while taking advantage of nostalgia. To be entirely honest, the "flat design" doesn't look "cutting-edge". It looks basic, which is because, well. It is. Intentionally so. If users don't care what your buttons look like, why spend tons of time making them look a specific style. That's just more time spent. I'd argue that the reason it's become so prevalent, is exactly that. Less time spent designing, more time spent on features.
- alxlaz 7y ago
  > Really? I personally doubt users would prefer Skeuomorphic buttons. Have you tested this assumption, or is it simply something that you suspect? There's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but don't mistake it for an analysis!

jefftk 7y ago

You've linked to animated download buttons. Are you being serious?

simonklitj 7y ago
What's wrong with it being a download button? Does it have to be a "Cancel" or "Yes" button for the example to apply? But sure, they're animated. I'm referring to the design of the buttons, not the animations. Try this on for size: https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls I don't get this obsession with Skeumorphism. IMO it's not a good look and should be left in the 2000's.
- Angostura 7y ago
  The very word 'button' is is a skeuomorphism referring to a physical object. There is nothing wrong with visual cues hinting at a physical button if you are going to call the object a button.
  - indymike 7y ago
    A lot of hate for skeumorphism comes from using ux that resemble or preserve obsolete physical objects. Like floppy disks, corded desk phones, flip phones or analog clocks. Buttons are great. We still press lots of them every day.
- fortydegrees 7y ago
  Buttons are for pressing, not for displaying information.
- neogodless 7y ago
  Personally, I find that animated buttons scream "ads" to me. And animated "download" buttons scream "malware ads"!

x3haloed 7y ago

I think the buttons are a little much, but they are also very obviously buttons, which is good for usability.

simonklitj 7y ago
Sure, but I think something like this: https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls https://dribbble.com/shots/5915773-Unlock-calls is just a obviously a button. I might be wrong.
- pdpi 7y ago
  You can't decide whether it's "obviously a button" in isolation. Depends entirely on how that particular element fits into the rest of the page. The only exception I can think of is that it's obviously a button if it uses system controls.
  - munmaek 7y ago
    Those are quite obviously buttons. The difference is the design is flat versus the style in the post. Those are a thousand times better than "buttons" that are just underlined text.
    - ASalazarMX 7y ago
      Or simply bold blue text.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - x3haloed 7y ago
    Things that look real-world buttons or switches are more obviously a button in isolation than things that require a lot of context. Things can look "pressable" without context.
- squeaky-clean 7y ago