admin - Should action buttons be separate or part of a single toolbar?

This is a follow-up question from the previous question managing taxonomy hierarchies UI patterns.

Question: When an item in a list has action buttons that perform create/edit/delete actions, is it better to display each action button as a separate element or should they be grouped into a single toolbar?

Separate Elements

Single Toolbar

Answer

Separate buttons.

Combining the buttons creates a relationship between the buttons, even though that's not really important. Placing the buttons individually within the element probably does a better job of establishing the relationship between button and item, which is more important.

Plus, it means larger target sizes. Fitts' law and all that.