Split Buttons: Definition

Summary: A split button is a dual-function menu button that offers a default action as well as the possibility of choosing a different action by selecting from a set of alternatives.

In complex applications, it is easy to overwhelm users with a tremendous number of options, commands, tools, and controls. Showing a large number of tools all at once is visually overwhelming, and evaluating all the available actions places far too much cognitive load on users. Split buttons reduce visual complexity by grouping similar commands together — much like how navigation menus chunk together related options to enable conceptual understanding of the site information structure.

Definition : A split button is a button with two components: a label and an arrow; clicking on the label selects a default action, and clicking on the arrow opens up a list of other possible actions.

A split button is a hybrid between a button and a menu: it groups related commands together into a dropdown , but also offers one-click access to a default choice that doesn’t require opening the menu.