Page History
...
Do not place more than four actions and never more than three icon actions per boardlet toolbar . Group additional actions under the More action.
Hierachy of
...
Actions
The buttons inside Inspire follow a hierarchical order. It is important to create a visual hierarchy between the buttons in the user interface to guide the user’s attention towards the desired user flow.
...
Secondary actions should be used in moderation as to not overload the user with choices. Limit the amount of secondary action to a maximum of three per dashboard if possible.
Ghost Action
Layout
The total number of ghost actions on a dashboard is not limited. There are limits to the total of ghost actions in certain action groups:
- The number of default - ghost - custom toolbar actions should never exceed three.
- There should never be more than three footerbar actions inside a dashboard, including ghost actions.
- Table row actions should be limited to a total of three, including the "More" action.
- Some component-specific toolbars have their own limit to the total number of actions.
I a dashboard has a great number of ghost actions, especially in toolbars, consider placing the less important ones inside the "More" action to reduce visual complexity.
Button group
Buttons are considered in a group if they are placed next to one another within a boardlet. These buttons don't have spacing between them. One prominent example for this occurs with footerbar actions. Avoid placing more than three buttons in a button group for visual clarity.
A group Depending on the context, a group of buttons can have two layouts: horizontal and vertical. Avoid conbining the two within one mixing layouts within a dashboard. The order for buttons is as follows:
- Horizontal - From left to right, place ghost buttons first, than then secondary buttons and last if existing there exists a primary button.
- Verical Vertical - From top to bottom, place the primary button first, than then secondary buttons and ghost buttons at the bottom.
Avoid placing more than three buttons in a button group for visual clarity.
- .
Creating a User Flow
The goal of primary and secondary actions is to create a user flow through multiple dashboards of a application. The user is guided through this flow by the primary action of the dashboard. Secondary actions show options to modify the indended flow like canceling, resetting, or going back.
The user flow guides the user through the fundamental tasks related to a goal they want to achieve within the group of dashboard. This goal often mirrors a use case from the requirements for the application. Examples for these tasks are:
- Creating a new object within the system.
- Viewing a specific set of information.
- Going throu a standard process like taking samples.
Creation Guide
This is a step-by-step guide for the selection of primary and secondary actions:
- Define the user goal for the application. What would the user primarily want to achieve within this application? Look at the requirements for information.
- Define the purpose of this dashboard. What action on this dashboard does the user need to take to achieve his primary goal? If multiple actions are may bee needed for this process, choose the final action on this dashboard.
- Define the visualization for the primary action. What boardlet contains the primary action? Select the type of action – toolbar, footerbar, content action – for the primary action.
- Select secondary actions for the dashboard. What actions fundamentally support or change the user flow? A dashboard should avoid having more than three secondary actions.
- Validate the result. Is the user flow clear to the users? Test or discuss the design with users and developers.
Example User Flow - Viewing Data
This example application overlooks a large storehouse with many different containers. These containers are constantly filled with some kind of building materials. The amount of this material is constantly changing as it gets used and refilled. The application tracs, among other things, these containers and the material they contain. The user wants to look at the fluctuation of material within a container and be able to edit it.
The first dashboard shows the home screen of the storage terminal. The main task for this terminal would be to survey the containers and material. Thereby the primary action leads to a list of containers.
The second dashboard shows the complete list of containers. Certain containers might dynamically be highlighted with the primary color based on criteria like faulty data. Otherwise, this dashboard would not have a primary button, since the next step is the selection of more details. This action applies to every table row thereby can't be a primary action.
Clicking on a table item shows additional information on the selected container. The bottom of the sidebar contains the data for this container and a chart, with two buttons at the bottom: “Close” and “Edit”. The main task for this dashboard is to navigate to the detail screen in order to edit, making “Edit” the primary action.
The fourth dashboard is a detailed view of the data for the container.
The user can freely edit the data here. The primary action is “Save”, since the system needs a conformation of the changes made by the user.
