Mobile phones, use buttons or hyperlinks

I don't have research to provide, but my paradigm is hyperlinks for
navigation and buttons for *actions*; e.g. form-based actions (search,
submit, clear, cancel, ...)

I keep in mind (and would suggest others do too) that these are
guidelines, not hard and fast rules. There will inevitably be certain
circumstances which necessitate a deviation. Better to fit the model
correctly than force an awkward consistency.

(has anyone else ever noticed that the word *awkward* is an awkward word
in and of itself? I don't get to type it much, which makes the
experience of typing it awkward, and it looks funny too)

-Mark

> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> discuss-interactiondesigners.com-bounces at lists.interactiondesi
> gners.com
> [mailto:discuss-interactiondesigners.com-bounces at lists.interac
> tiondesign
> ers.com]On Behalf Of Wendy Fischer
> Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 2:01 PM
> To: discuss at ixdg.org
> Subject: [ID Discuss] Mobile phones, use buttons or hyperlinks
>
>
> [Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant
> quoted material.]
>
> Hi,
>
> I am wondering if anybody know if there is any research
> regarding the use of hyperlinks over buttons in order to
> perform an action.
>
> I've seen the use of both buttons and hyperlinks for WAP 2.0,
> but am seeing more hyperlinks as opposed to buttons. I am
> creating an xhtml page.
>
> -Wendy
>
>
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> I've seen the use of both buttons and hyperlinks for WAP 2.0, but am
> seeing more hyperlinks as opposed to buttons. I am creating an xhtml
> page.

I generally follow the "buttons for actions, links for navigation" rule, but
I'll break it to emphasize or de-emphasize as needed.

I can think of at least one case (try to guess what it is) where links are
used because the page was converted from WML several years ago and nobody
has bothered to update it.

To complicate things, only buttons can submit a form, so you can't have a
field with a "Submit" text link.

Of course this is all anecdotal - I don't know of any public research on the
subject.

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Jonathan Grubb
Yahoo! Mobile
Office: 408-349-6122
Mobile: 415-722-9449
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