Term
Affordance
A possible action a user can take with an object or interface in a particular context.
An affordance is an action possibility: what a person can do with an object, environment, or interface. In software, teams often use the word loosely for visible controls, but the stricter idea is relational. A control affords an action only in relation to the user’s abilities, context, and understanding.
Affordance hijacking usually happens at the perceived-action layer. The control works, but the action it affords is not the action the user inferred from the cue. A close icon appears to afford leaving a surface; the system treats it as stopping playback or discarding work.
The practical test is prediction: before activation, can the intended user say what action will happen and what state will change?
Used in
Related
- SignifierA visible, audible, or textual cue that tells users where an action is available and what it is likely to do.
- Mental ModelThe user's internal understanding of how a task, product, or domain works, built from prior experience and current cues.
- Cognitive LoadTotal mental effort a user spends to complete a task — split between intrinsic difficulty, extraneous interface noise, and learning.