History of the Button

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Bill DeRouchey

Game show buzzers and buttons

How quickly can you push a button? Can you push it with milliseconds to spare? How about in front of a television audience for thousands of dollars? The other night, I was watching Deal or No Deal and heard Howie Mandel say “this button is worth $880,000.” It hit

V.Smile Baby = crib potato?

This just feels wrong. As mentioned here before, toddlers love buttons. They take their natural instinct to explore their surroundings and poke everything to see what happens. And in a world where there are buttons everywhere, there’s a lot to explore. Manufacturers of kids’ products know this and respond

Garage door opener

The garage door opener button is the unsung workhorse of the button world. Outcast to the garage, it often sits alone without any neighbors. No On or Submit or Popcorn to socialize with. It doesn’t even get enough respect to earn its own icon. That’s why in many

Early light switches vs iPod/iTunes

The light switch was often the first button to really make an impact on the lives of many people. Around 1900, homes were first getting electricity in some parts of the world. Before, they had gas lamps or even candles. Now, they could just push a button to turn the

Give the HTML button a little respect

Over at Digital Web Magazine, Aaron Gustafson has just published “Push my button“, a great article all about coding buttons, including very clever examples of what you can do with them. If there’s one element I think doesn’t get enough respect, it’s gotta be button. It’s

Early Play and Record icons, part 2

(Continuing from Early Play and Record icons, part 1) Even as late as 1967, some companies were still experimenting and struggling with the icons for the standard media controls such as Play and Record. The buttons are too small, the words are too big. How do you compensate? You have

Pushbutton railroading in 1939

Here’s what I want for Christmas, 67 years ago. (Scanned from Popular Mechanics magazine, December 1939 issue, as World War II begins.) “Want to load a coal car? I’ll do it! Press button and I’ll fill it to the brim!” “What’s become of our coal? Press

Do Standby buttons save or waste energy?

In theory, Standby buttons are supposed to save energy by powering almost all of the way down. When the device isn’t being used, it sucks up the bare minimum of energy to be ready to use immediately, instead of starting up from scratch. The Standby button lets the device

Early Play and Record icons

A new reader, Matt, asked me about who invented the standard Play, Pause, etc. icons and I surprised myself that I haven’t touched on it yet. So here goes. I’m fascinated by the history of our standard media icons, as I bet a few of you are too.

Snooze button. Sleep button. Nap button!

I love our new alarm clock, the first one I’ve ever owned that makes sense. After a year or so of using a dopey little travel alarm clock, I can finally set my alarm without professional frustration. This alarm clock feels like an interaction designer really took their time