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Software Engineering vocabulary · Web, Mobile and Interface Development

Button

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈbʌtn/nounCore term

In software engineering, button means: A clickable or tappable element that lets users perform an action, such as submitting a form, saving changes or opening a menu.

In Turkish: buton, düğme

How it is used

Design systems define button types such as primary, secondary, tertiary (text) and destructive buttons, plus states like hover, pressed and disabled. Labels should describe the action: 'Save changes' rather than 'OK'.

Example sentences

  1. Make 'Pay now' the primary button and 'Back' a secondary one.

  2. Users tapped the disabled button again and again because it didn't look disabled.

Common collocations

  • primary button
  • disabled button
  • button label
  • tap the button
  • call to actionA button, link or short message that asks users to take the next step, such as 'Sign up', 'Add to cart' or 'Start free trial'.
  • componentA reusable, self-contained piece of a user interface, such as a button, modal or product card, with its own markup, styles and logic.
  • hover stateThe way an element looks when the mouse pointer is over it, for example a button getting darker, which shows that it can be clicked.
  • focus stateThe visible style, usually an outline or ring, that shows which element is currently selected when someone moves through a page with a keyboard.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Web, Mobile and Interface Development

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