I sent this to Brett earlier rather than the list. He did reply to me, but I'll leave it to him whether he wants to forward it to the list.
I'm getting really confused by what shows up on the list, what on the webpage, and wotnot. I sent this post earlier from the webpage, but it hasn't shown up yet. Brett, I'm surprised that in your previous post you would say 'But regardless of tests, for the reasons that I listed, the chances for disrupted usability and flow is much greater when the 'Previous' button is on the left..' I'm assuming that you are basing your recommendations on testing and research rather than personal opinion. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Having conducted multiple studies and tests on this very process, the 'Next' > button must be on the left side while the 'Previous' button needs to be on > the right. > There are several reasons as to why this is but I will focus on the 2 main > ones. > 1. One thing I hate when entering serial numbers for a new software is when > I have to manually press the 'Tab' button rather then the cursor > automatically 'tabbing' to the right. Many developers who are sharp enough > to pick up on this have automated the process. This being said, some > developers have automated the process to 'tab' to the next button or field. > If the last field that precedes the 'Next' button is completed, the 'Next' > button is the most logical action and feature in regards to keeping a > consistent flow for the user to complete the task at hand. There is nothing > more aggravating then having a process flow being interrupted. I agree for that circumstance. There are a couple of considerations in reply. 1) Tab order doesn't have to follow visual order, as someone else pointed out. In html you can specify the tab order, which you would sometimes do differently for users with disabilities. I think a key point is that you are specifying a visual layout here to cater for people not using the visual cues. 2) Leading on from that, is everyone like you? The design you go for would differ for different audiences and purposes. If you are registering some software for developers, you might well find that most people tab. If you are installing a kindergarten programme, you might well find that most users don't tab, and are confused by the cursor jumping to the next field without them noticing. In years of observation of customers using ba.com, I do know that relatively few our customers tab. > 2. Users who are Net savvy tend to be quick with their left pinky finger > (for 'Tab') their right pinky finger (for 'Enter') followed by their right > then left thumb with both pointer fingers locked on the 'F' and 'J' buttons > for bearing. > These users who use the keyboard extensively rather then relying solely on > the mouse know how to rip through form fields using the 'Tab' and Space Bar. > If the cursor does not automatically tab to another field upon completing a > previous field, the user rapidly 'Tabs' with the left pinky finger and has > adapted to a learned behaviour. Upon reaching the first button in order > after completing all required fields, the user is still in 'Tab' and Space > Bar mode and will automatically Tab to the button and hammer the Space Bar > to proceed with the task. > Placing 'Previous' before the 'Next' or 'Submit' buttons breaks user flow > and I strongly recommend against it. Erm, is that a different point, or the same one? I would regard myself as relatively savvy, and do use the tab key, but don't know what you're using F and J for, and haven't noticed other people using them. Again, the point is to design for your audience, and there's a danger in too broad generalisations. There's another consideration also. On travel commerce websites, the primary purpose (both business-wise and for visitors) is to sell tickets. I think it's unlikely that even ardent tabbers would tab their way through an entire page of flight lists, options, information links etc. On such a page, the button to confirm your choice and progress to the next page is typically to the right, indicating progress. If that's what users of such sites experience the most, then it would be risky to change the order of buttons on less-used pages that submit forms. I think the appearance and positioning of actions buttons on a website is something that is important to have a degree of internal consistency. If you take tabbing out of the equation, we've found that the visibility/obviousness of the continue button (or any button) is probably more important than the exact positioning. Luke in his book advises against the use of red buttons due to potential confusion with error messaging, but I've never seen this happen in practice, and red stands out the most. I'd also caution against the use of red and green as contrasting colours, as red/green is the most common form of colour blindness (I'm red/green blind). It's an interesting discussion. * Nick Gassman - Usability and Standards Manager - http://ba.com * * I vote for reply-to to go to the list* ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
