I think it would be nice to have the option to hyperlink with different text showing, like any basic HTML hyperlinking. Like I can even do in this forum if I needed to.
Visually, having the url just there isn’t appealing.
:wave: Hey all! I’m thrilled to announce that we’re launching the beta for button field, a new field type that allows you to create buttons that trigger customizable actions. Our first action is open URL, which lets you open links based on a URL formula. You can use this to do things like:
Send emails
Open Airtable forms with prefilled records
Create Google Calendar invites
Open JIRA tickets
Post tweets
And much more!
In addition, you can customize the label and style of the buttons.
I’m really delighted to see how happy this makes everyone, and I agree, it is a useful capability that addresses a void in the Airtable feature set. However, I see a number of issues with this approach not the least of which is the fundamental vernacular, a trajectory that has always troubled me about Airtable.
Raining on the Parade…
Do not read any further if you want to have a long and restful holiday weekend. :winking_face:
Setting aside the new functionality that this makes available, how do you feel about the idea that a “button” is a “field”?
Just saying the term “button field” seems wrong. And to be clear, it’s not worse (or better) than a “formula field”. Isn’t a button an “action” that you attach to a field? Indeed, an action that you should be able to attach to ANY field? Isn’t a formula a functional “attribute” that you should be able to apply to ANY field?
Buttons and formulas are not representatives or proxies for data values, so why are they structurally “fields” in the data tables? The short answer, of course, is that these actions are fundamentally treated like data values and because of this, it rules out the idea that an image might also be a button. Or that string might act as a button.
Unlike other spreadsheet platforms, the data cells in Airtable do not have “depth”; the idea that any given cell may support a variety of attributes such as a button action, or a formula, or both.
Like all of you, when I see new possibilities, such as this new “button field” [oops, I just puked a little in my mouth] I want to be excited but I know what may be coming - more field types that are not really fields.
They’re going to add more actions in the future, which is why “Open URL” is a dropdown. In its initial incarnation it is better than a formula field because there’s styling options included that formula fields don’t have. Also if we’re going to split hairs Airtable is not at all a “spreadsheet platform”. It’s a database. I don’t see why a Date field would need to also somehow be a button.
But, it already is, isn’t it? You click it and it has an “action” - i.e., display a calendar. Ideally, you should be able to display a custom calendar, or integrate the “action” with your own calendar.
