Guidelines for Push-buttons in Tables
This excerpt from the guidelines pertains to the placement of push-buttons around
a table object. The original guideline was 5 pages long and was one of a series of
guidelines I helped develop for a new version of the product GUI.
Placement and Spacing of Table Function Push-buttons
All table functions should appear as push-buttons in a single row, immediately below the table. In most cases, this placement matches the top-to-bottom workflow of the user, and positions the push-buttons clearly in context of the table and away from other controls. See Figure 1, below, for an example.Exception: In some cases, it is allowable to place the button row above the table, instead. One example would be if you expect the end-user to be using a very large screen and you want the buttons to be closer to the top of the table to make them more visible and to minimize mouse movement.
Horizontal Spacing
The left-most button should be left-aligned with the bottom left edge of the table. Push-buttons for related functions must be placed right next to one another, with one horizontal space (one column in the Screen Painter) between them. Groups of functions must be separated by two spaces (two columns in the Screen Painter).Vertical Spacing
There should be a very small vertical space, equal to half the height of a push-button, between the bottom of the table and the tops of the push-buttons. The necessary space will be automatically generated by the GUI. Do not insert an empty row between the table and the buttons - this will cause too much vertical space to appear.
Figure 1. Placement of Table Push-buttons