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 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:
- Navigation: Back to previous page of search results
- Display: Name of currently displayed page
- Navigation: Forward to the next page of search results
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
- Button: www.nzz.ch/search… (11.09.2014)
- Too small click area:www.admin.ch/suchen (11.09.2014)