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Highlighting links on hovering is widely used in the web, but does it make sense on the desktop too? A friend is programming a calendar software and highlights each day in the date picker while hovering. I wondered if this was really necessary and couldn't find this behavior in iCal's picker.

date picker iCals date picker. No hover effect. Only the selected date is highlighted.

He argues that highlighting the button makes it easier to see which button you'll hit. Especially when you're near the border of two buttons.

Why is the hover effect used so much on the web and so little on the desktop (at least on my Mac)?

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7 Answers

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Why is the hover effect used so much on the web and so little on the desktop (at least on my Mac)?

From a purely pragmatic standpoint, web operations are far more expensive than desktop operations - clicking the wrong date on an online calendar could lead an additional page request and several seconds' wait, whereas on a desktop the interface will be (at least theoretically) responsive enough to reduce the cost of an error to a second.

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Interesting point! Also because my friend has trouble displaying the hover effect correctly and his hacks aren't very efficient. So it's the question whether it's really worth it. – Christian Mar 10 at 17:16
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It's definitely a mixed bag on the desktop.

Microsoft (and Apple) both provide User Experience guidelines. Microsoft has some specific examples of hover, while I can't find the equivalent on the mac.

Personally, I look at hover as a valuable affordance. Why wouldn't you use it if it helps the user figure out what to do? That doesn't mean use it for no reason. My personal approach is that clickable things change the mouse AND show some indication visually (like a hover).

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1 
 Hm, I could imagine it's really distracting to have every selectable object show a hover effect in iCal since that's 90% of the whole area. As a programmer I learned that I need to get rid of the "why not if I'm able to?" method. Since Apple isn't doing it, I feel like there is a reason to it. ;-) – Christian Mar 10 at 17:24
I agree with Christian up to the last sentence. Apple is by no means a great example to follow when it comes to UI. Sure, they do a lot of things right, but they do a lot of things wrong as well. – Charles Boyung Mar 16 at 14:02
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"Why is the hover effect used so much on the web and so little on the desktop (at least on my Mac)?"

One reason that's not been mentioned so far is that desktop UIs have a standard set of UI components - so people already "know" that buttons (or whatever) are things that you click on once they have learned the conventions UI. You don't need the additional visual cues.

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At first I thought so too. But then I discovered that there are many objects in Apple's Apps that are not obviously buttons, but don't have an hover effect either. So it goes beyond just what people already know. – Christian Mar 10 at 17:01
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Lots of objects that have affordance in desktop software respond to a rollover or hover event. It's one way to show affordance.

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Desktop GUIs relay more on buttons and checkboxes for dealing with mouse actions.

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I agree with Glen that hover can be a valuable affordance. In in the name of simplicity, many UI elements these days are not obviously clickable, so a hover effect would aid discoverability.

But I think that it should be looked at as just that: providing a visual clue, and therefore, hopefully, be done lightly and tastefully. Some designs go seriously overboard with hover effects.

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Why do you think it's necessary to aid people when applications without that help do so well? Why bother to figure out the right amount of hover effects when it's not really necessary? – Christian Mar 11 at 17:35
The idea is to help with discoverability. Buttons and icons are obviously clickable, but sometimes there are other UI elements that aren't obviously clickable. More importantly, the trend is towards hiding clickable elements altogether until one needs them. This makes hover critical. E.g. in iPhoto (09), you need to hover on a thumbnail before the "i" icon (for information) and the "add keywords" prompt appear. – Hisham Abboud Mar 15 at 16:32
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The hover effect makes sense when you need to differentiate actable from non-actable elements and/or want to provide additional information. And for both purposes I can actually see it employed in quite some places throughout OS X, at least.

Hence, simply and in short: yes. :)

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