android - Is it frowned upon to allow the user two different options to perform the same action?

I have an app I am building where a user can browse through content similar to the Facebook timeline.

One action the user can take is follow this person.

All actions for each piece of content I have placed in an overflow menu based on Android guidelines. However for follow I want to visually indicate to the user at a glance which pieces of content they have followed by placing a star that is either empty (not followed) or filled in (followed).

The user will be able to follow/unfollow from tapping the star as well as clicking follow/unfollow in the overflow menu.

Are there any reasons as to why I should not do this?

Answer

Many ways to perform the same action is fine

Just make sure they don't get in the way of the most important task at hand.

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No two users are created equal

Anyone who has done usability testing knows that each person has their own unique workflow. It is good to accommodate each individual style and workflow.

Andrew Martin correctly points out in the comments below that...

In most operating systems there are at least three ways to do anything: with a direct click from the mouse, via a menu system, or with a key combination - This kind of affordance seems to accommodate most users from first timers to pros and with a range of accessibility issues.

One concrete example that tested well among a variety of users

I once made a photo gallery for flipping through a stack of pictures. The only actions were "show next photo" and "show previous photo" I didn't want a lot of UI buttons cluttering up the screen so the entire view port was just the picture.

There were so many ways to flip through the images that it didn't matter if users found them all:

• hovering the mouse over the right 1/4 of the screen showed an arrow overlay and clicking anywhere in the right 3/4 of the picture went forward, hovering over the left 1/4 showed a back arrow and clicking anywhere in the left 1/4 of the screen went back a slide


• using the right/left arrow keys or up/down arrow keys could go forward/backward


• using the mouse wheel down/up could go forward/backward



• hitting the space bar showed the next picture

Every user I tested it with found something that worked for them right away and just assumed the application was built according to their expectations.