Multifunctional Button?

Buttons are for clicks that triggers one action.

Example: Display of search results. To display many search results you can navigate between the pages. This is a known design pattern. This can be solved better or worse. The most common error is a too small click area (1).

Fig. 1: Search Results Design Pattern
Fig. 1 examples_searchresult_pagin.jpg

Multifunctional button

Poor, respectively confusing solution shown in Fig. 2. for the navigation between the pages of search results. This button (1) has three functions:

  1. Navigation: Back to previous page of search results
  2. Display: Name of currently displayed page
  3. Navigation: Forward to the next page of search results
Fig. 2: Multifunctional Button
Fig. 2 multibutton.jpg

Conclusion

For established design patterns, fortunately there are still a few, it is better not invent anything new.

Illustrations to this post

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