overloaded radio buttons -- good GUI design?
RichFOct 31 2010 — edited Nov 9 2010I don't know where else to ask this. What do you think about overloading radio buttons with multiple functions? I have made an update to my Interactive Color Wheel that uses this technique. I haven't released it yet, but it is available here:
* http://r0k.us/rock/Junk/SIHwheel.html
It offers eight different sorts of 1567 colors and their names. That seemed to me to be way too many radio buttons; there were originally just three sorts and three buttons. I made a second row that contains the five new sorts accessed via two buttons. The sorts on each button are closely related, riffs on a theme if you will. Consecutive clicks on one of these two buttons will rotate through its functions, with the button text and toolTip updated to match its current sort and state.
I won't try describing more -- just use it, and let me know what you think. Intuitive? Ugly? Bad GUI design? Other comments?