ant-design/docs/spec/buttons.en-US.md

group	type	order	title
Design Patterns	Global Rules	6	Button

Design Principal

• Guide users to achieve the desired actions.
• Prevent user to make mistakes.

Types

Common Button Types

① Default Button

Default buttons are used for non-primary actions. If not sure which button type to choose from, the default button is always a safe bet.

② Primary Button

Emphasize on "complete" or "recommend" action. There is at most one primary button per a button group.

③ Text Button

Low emphasis and light-weight button type, such as actions in a table.

④ Icon Button

Icon provides a visual clue.

• It could fit more buttons in a small space.
• Buttons with icon only need to provide Tooltip to indicate the meaning of the button.

⑤ Text Button with Icon

Provides supplementary meaning to the button.

Emphasis

Common button types could be used to showcase to different emphasis.

Do & Don't

Special Button Types

Dashed Button

Guide users to add content in an area.

Danger Button

Warns users that there are risks involved in the action.

Ghost Button

Used in the dark or colored background.

Call to Action

Usually appeared alone and intend to used as a command. For example, it is used in the landing page or welcome banner. It could be as wide as its parent container. It is recommended to have just 1 "Call to Action" button in 1 screen.

Placement

Place buttons in the users' reading pattern for the ease of discovery, such as the "F-Shaped Reading Pattern" and "Z-Shaped Reading Pattern".

How to Decide Button Placement?

Page/Card/Section presents a subject, where it could be broken into 3 areas:

• Header: subject's heading, summary and navigation
• Body: detailed content
• Footer: supplementary information or toolbar

Place buttons in different areas could have different meanings.

When to Put Buttons in the Footer?

• Body section has collapsed or hidden content, such as it could not show the entire content in one screen;
• Body section has complex content. For example, it has multiple subgroups and each subgroup has its own actions. Now it is needed to separate "Complete" action from body section to avoid confusion.

In short, footer's purpose is to have a separation from body.

Ordering

Button Ordering

Recommend to start from the reading flow, collapsed content should always be on the right.

How to Decide Button Ordering

• Conversation Flow: place buttons in the order similar to a conversation between computers and users. Ask users the needed actions or your desired actions, then present the risks involved.
• Navigation Flow: for example, if a button represents going back, should be placed on the left implying it is going to the previous step.

Button Group

When multiple buttons form a group, align buttons in one line with spaces in between.

Grouping Buttons

When there are too many buttons on the screen, we could group relevant buttons together and use similar design for that group. If one of the buttons is primary action, we could still use emphasis.

Collapse buttons in the order of importance

Flat display of all the buttons: could separate different groups using space; or use divider to group similar buttons.

Label

Labels should clearly indicate to users what would happen when buttons got clicked.

• Should use verb (except dropdown buttons)
• Should be relevant to the context and be concise.

Ant Design use "OK / Cancel" as default label, but you could still use below methods to customize the label text:

• Describe the action result.

  Publish, Login, Register.

• If primary action means negative, stress the consequences.

  Are you sure to delete it? Delete / Cancel