Ok everyone jump on the bandwagon we're leaving in 10 minutes. Another 100 people could jump in the convo and say the same about the Previous being on the left and Next on the right, it's not going to change the my past usability tests and a decade of interaction design experience- although I will always be a student of usability. The fact remains that the next logical primary action is to move forward with the process. A web page is not a book. There is no going back a few chapters or moving past the boring parts to get ahead. A common mistake that many amateur North American usability 'experts' make is assuming everyone goes from left to right. My task is simply to provide an intuitive path for the user to accomplish their task and to bring whatever steps are necessary in moving them forward to the forefront. Again, (I feel like a recording) having the Next on the left followed by Previous reduces the changes for interrupting the user's flow. Again, in the tests that I have conducted and as others here have stated as well, this is not merely based on opinion or whether or not user's tend to look at the bottom right, it's based on the studies that I have conducted. Many designers default to the right because Search is followed by a button, upload, browse, etc., are followed by a button to the right or beneath. The North American mindset 'assumes' that the right side means forward. True IA and Usability Specialists know otherwise. (not saying that no one here is not a true IA- I'm just implying that learned IAs think universally and holistically in regards to digital design and not just left to right and top to bottom) Whether the Next link is an actual button and the Previous is a hyperlink, it is commonly already understood that the user knows that some form of moving forward is at the bottom. If they look bottom/right and see that it's not there, Low and Behold, they simply look to the left and the Next button smacks them right in the face...no harm done and the user simply moves on. Especially when a form is Left Justified for readability, users will naturally look to the left to proceed forward. Any questions.
On Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 6:07 PM, Jack Leon Moffett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Brett, > > Just to be clear, previous = left / next = right doesn't only apply to > mass-public websites. I too design applications that are industry, rather > than consumer, focused. Of course, a number of the apps I've worked on are > tablet-based with finger and/or stylus input, so keyboard is barely a > consideration there. > > Best, > Jack > > > > Jack L. Moffett > Interaction Designer > inmedius > 412.459.0310 x219 > http://www.inmedius.com > > > You could design a process to catch > everything, but then you're overprocessing. > You kill creativity. You kill productivity. > By definition, a culture like ours that > drives innovation is managed chaos. > > -Alex Lee > President, OXO International > > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > -- Brett Lutchman Web Slinger. ________________________________________________________________ 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
