Button (computing)
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In computing, a button (sometimes known as a command button or push button) is a widget that provides the user a simple way to trigger an event, like searching for a query at a search engine, or to interact with dialog boxes, like confirming his actions.
[edit] Description
A typical button is a rectangle, wider than it is tall, with a descriptive caption in its center. The most common method of pressing a button is clicking it, but other input such as keystrokes can be used. When pressed, in addition to performing a predetermined task, buttons often undergo a graphical change to look as if they were being temporarily depressed.
Some very common incarnations of the button widget are:
- An OK Button for confirming actions
- A Cancel button for cancelling actions (e.g., closing windows)
- An Exit button for closing programs
- Buttons are also used for many narrative descriptions of how to use events in Adobe Flex. A button object is instantiated as well as a label which displays "Button Clicked" once the button has been pressed.
Examining the picture to the right, which is a sample of button styles used on Windows XP, there are several examples of buttons used in some applications. In the topmost example, the buttons are circular. The sample directly below and to the left shows the newer rounded corner style of button. The example on the far right shows a choice of three vertically arranged buttons, with the first one having the focus, meaning if the enter key is pressed, that button will be selected. The two blue examples in the middle show two versions of the control buttons typically on the upper right-hand corner of the application's window. The leftmost of the three "minimizes" the application, causing it to disappear into the "taskbar" at the bottom of the screen. The rightmost red "X" closes the application. The center button does one of two things: if the application is fully expanded to cover the whole screen ("maximized"), the center button reduces the size of the application to its prior size before it was maximized. If the application is not maximized, this button will maximize the application so that it fills the entire screen. The example at the bottom shows three of the older style sharp corner rectangular buttons, in a horizontal arrangement, the first one having the focus.
[edit] WWW
On the World Wide Web, the term "button" (aside from the command buttons found in HTML forms) also refers to button graphics, which are typically used to advertise programs that were used to create or host the site (for example, MediaWiki sites, like Wikipedia itself, often have a "Powered by Mediawiki" button on the bottom right corner of the page), or programs that are recommended to view the site. The buttons are linked to the advertised sites. These were first popularized by Netscape and Microsoft during the browser wars.
Button graphics are typically 88x31 pixels in size, but recently, smaller 80x15 pixels buttons have become very popular in the blogosphere.
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About box · Balloon help · Button · Combo box · Combutcon · Context menu · Check box · Dialog box · Drop-down list · File dialog · Grid view · Icon · Label · List box · Menu · Menu bar · Progress bar · Radio button · Ribbon · Scrollbar · Slider · Spinner · Status bar · Tab · Text box · Toolbar · Tooltip · Tree view · widget |
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