[IxDA Discuss] Hide vs Collapse

[Allison Beckwith]

My colleague and I were talking earlier about whether to use the word  
'hide' or 'collapse' for showing the simplified version of an object  
on a web page. The object has three states: edit, preview, and  
collapsed. We talked about using "twist-downs," as suggested in the  
Closable Panels section in Designing Interfaces (Jennifer Tidwell),  
but because we have three states, this doesn't really work. I am not  
opposed to using an image (plus/minus, twist-downs, minimize/maximize  
icons), but would prefer to find the right word to describe this action.

The words we are toying around with are:
* Hide
* Collapse
* Minimize
* Shrink

I think our problem with hide and collapse, is that they both sound  
difficult to reverse. If I hide something, will I be able to find it  
again? If something collapses, can it be put back together again?  
Minimize seems to be the best fit, but when I think about that word I  
picture minimizing a window so that it is removed from my workspace.  
This doesn't quite match up with what we are trying to accomplish,  
but perhaps this is still the best choice. Shrink just sounds funny  
to me.

Related design patterns:
http://www.welie.com/patterns/showPattern.php?patternID=customization- 
window
http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/pattern.php?pattern=collapse#

Which word do you prefer and why?

Thanks! This is my first post to the list. I am finding the  
discussions to be interesting, thought-provoking, and relevant to my  
work.

Allison


-- 
Allison Beckwith
Co-Founder & Creative Director

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