Affordance
What something lets you do, whether or not you can tell.
Definition
The action possibilities an object offers to a person, as distinct from the signifier that communicates them.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
In plain language
What something lets you do, whether or not you can tell.
Example
A div with a click handler affords clicking. Nothing about it signals that, which is why the signifier matters more in practice.
Commonly confused with
Close neighbours that get substituted for each other. The difference is stated first, then the condition that picks one over the other.
Signifier
TermThe perceptible cue that communicates where and how to act.
Key difference
An affordance is what an element makes possible. A signifier is the cue that tells someone it is possible. A button that works but looks like plain text has the affordance and lacks the signifier.
Use Affordance when
- You are describing what the interface permits.
- The question is capability rather than perception.
Use Signifier when
- You are describing why someone did or did not realise they could act.
- The fix is a visible cue: an underline, a border, a label, a cursor.
Local chart
TERM·004 · Region X · Grid D6
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Deeper reading
The full entry behind this definition.
- Affordances and SignifiersPRIN·007 · Principle
- DiscoverabilityPRIN·005 · Principle
Nearby in the Atlas
Adjacent territory, found through shared tags rather than a stated link.