Term of the Moment
home directory
Definition: button
(1) A small, marked area on an electronic device that is physically pressed down to activate a function. The button may stand out from its base so that it can be located by feel, or it can be level with its base such as the left and right buttons on most mice.
(2) An icon on screen that is "pressed" by clicking it with the mouse or, if a touchscreen, tapping it with a finger.
Simulating a Physical Depression
(2) An icon on screen that is "pressed" by clicking it with the mouse or, if a touchscreen, tapping it with a finger.
In the early days of personal computers, on-screen buttons were often made to look like physical buttons by simulating their physical depression when clicked with the mouse. While the mouse button was held down, the software swapped the original button image (left) with a depressed version (right). See mouse over.