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by sjwright 2176 days ago
What I miss since iOS 7 is buttons that look like buttons. BUTTONS THAT LOOK LIKE BUTTONS. Is that too much to ask!?! Why are we stuck with sometimes plain blue text, especially when the use of that blue in UI "elements" isn't even consistent with regards to function or behaviour.
1 comments

As a user, I like where flat design has taken us, generally. But I absolutely agree with you: the loss of “functionality hinting” (I’m sure there’s an actual term for this, but I don’t know what it is) is pretty bad. You can stumble around a design that isn’t in your language, if the cues are strong enough. But all-text directions throw that right out.
> “functionality hinting” (I’m sure there’s an actual term for this, but I don’t know what it is)

“Affordance” is the term you’re looking for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance#As_perceived_action...

It seems the term is in fact "signifiers". From your link:

> Affordances determine what actions are possible. Signifiers communicate where the action should take place. We need both.