<![CDATA[I'm being told by a design lead that "disabled buttons are bad," and that we should only inform a user they can't take an action after they've clicked a button.]]>

<![CDATA[I'm being told by a design lead that "disabled buttons are bad," and that we should only inform a user they can't take an action after they've clicked a button.]]>I'm being told by a design lead that "disabled buttons are bad," and that we should only inform a user they can't take an action after they've clicked a button.

I've been doing this for 30 years, and I disagree: Visual cues are an important tool for communicating a system's behavior early. If the user doesn't have permission to take an action, disable the button and display a concise explanation nearby. (Use a tooltip if you must, but that's still hiding info behind user action).

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/951b22b6-890e-48c6-b492-37a5170d3109/i-m-being-told-by-a-design-lead-that-disabled-buttons-are-bad-and-that-we-should-only-inform-a-user-they-can-t-take-an-action-after-they-ve-clicked-a-button.RSS for NodeWed, 08 Apr 2026 19:22:31 GMTTue, 10 Mar 2026 16:32:46 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I'm being told by a design lead that "disabled buttons are bad," and that we should only inform a user they can't take an action after they've clicked a button. on Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:36:05 GMT]]>@dbergey Showing people seemingly clickable buttons they aren't allowed to click seems less like UX and more like an elaborate prank

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://vmst.io/users/jalefkowit/statuses/116205850822933244https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://vmst.io/users/jalefkowit/statuses/116205850822933244Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:36:05 GMT