Fewer elements with conditionals and multiple workflows vs. More elements each with their own workflow

Just curious to get some preferences on this.

Do you prefer to have:

  1. Fewer elements that perform multiple functions (e.g. a button with 4 conditionals that can have it looking 4 different ways and with 4 different workflows), or

  2. More elements that each have one function (e.g. 4 buttons for the above scenario).

It seems to me that #2 can make the page really busy with elements, but with #1 it can be extremely confusing figuring out what the button (or other element) is for.

I know I’ve kinda answered my own question here - I’m just wondering what people tend to prefer :slight_smile:

That’s a good question. I don’t have a strict rule that I follow here, but I seem to move more towards the first solution, for a few reasons:

  • Fewer elements means less chance of visual glitches (overlapping groups, etc)
  • I think fewer elements means shorter loading time (not 100% sure on this though)
  • Shorter element tree…
  • I just like it that way. I have a semi-orderly system of where I place states and how they affect elements, etc. Makes sense to me, might not make sense to someone else…
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Thanks for responding, @petter. Ya, that all makes sense. I like a short element tree, too, but that generally means more conditionals and workflows, so it’s a trade-off.

Fewer overlapping groups is nice. I’m not sure if it takes longer to load elements or run through conditionals, so don’t know what’s the best way to go in terms of speed.

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