Disabled buttons make for sad users

Why users don't like disabled buttons

Here's a list of articles about why disabled buttons are poor for users:

• frustrating design patterns - disabled buttons
• disabled buttons suck
• why you shouldn't include disabled interaction elements
• uxdesign - the case of the disabled button
• Disabled buttons in user interfaces

In my experience whenever we've run user tests on disabled buttons, users have always been confused by them. They don't know why they're disabled, and they don't know what to do to enable them. Making them look disabled is possibly ok but the solution is often to leave them enabled and provide feedback when clicked about why, either beside the button or highlighting the fields that need to be filled in along with a message about what's missing.

Why should we have disabled buttons?

Searching google for the why we should have disabled buttons will actually give a list of the articles above 😂

Reasons for disabled buttons:

• we want to frustrate our user
• we want to avoid having to explain why the button is disabled