Sorry, Brett, had to jump in because you're contradicting yourself a
bit here. I think your approach is starting to lose credit. Let me see
if I can help below.
On Sep 17, 2008, at 7:41 PM, Brett Lutchman wrote:
The fact remains that the next logical primary action is to move
forward with the process.
Absolutely. Keep in mind that people may theoretically be logical, but
practically not.
A common mistake that many amateur North American usability
'experts' make is assuming everyone goes from left to right.
Well I'm not an amateur N. American usability expert (feel free to
google me, I'm not going to list my pedigree here). The majority of
the world we design for on-line does read left to right. However, when
designing for cultures that read right to left, then design accordingly.
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.
As is any good designer worth their weight. Intuitive!=logical. There
are a lot of things that impact intuition, like culture, past
experience, visual design, etc.
Again, (I feel like a recording) having the Next on the left
followed by Previous reduces the changes for interrupting the user's
flow.
I just don't buy this, not globally anyway. Over a decade of testing
both models has shown me otherwise. And I'm not the only one. Speak to
just about any HCI professional who's been doing this for a long time
and they'll tell you otherwise. Yes, we read left to right, however,
when we reach the end of a form, our expectation is that the form
actions are at the bottom right corner. Want evidence, just watch
where people move their mouse. Not to mention that their mouse is
typically there as well from having scrolled down — Fitz's law.
I'm not saying some people won't look for the first button at the
left, then right. But I am saying that what you're claiming isn't what
"most non right to left reading on-line users actually do in real
life." Perhaps that's what your audience does, but then your audience
wouldn't equal to the average non-right-to-left-reading on-line user.
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.
I'd really be interested to know more about these studies you've run.
W/o the context of the audience, the tasks, and some background, it
makes it really difficult, and frankly dangerous, to apply your logic
here globally.
As a design researcher, I know that when seeing the results of a
study, the first question is "how was it run?" I'm not saying your
evidence is false, I'm saying that w/o real context, it doesn't really
help as much. Sorry, that's just the nature of true, experienced
research.
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.
Hmm, that's odd, because most designers I know put the default button
to the right, because it's been accepted as best practice based on
over a decade of HCI research. Guess we know different designers.
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.
But this breaks your theory of "most intuitive." Now you're making
them hunt. If they're automatically looking bottom left, then just put
it there. Eventually finding it doesn't equal intuitive and not
breaking their flow in my book. But maybe that's just me.
Especially when a form is Left Justified for readability, users will
naturally look to the left to proceed forward.
To the next field, but not necessarily for the final action button.
You're failing to notice, or acknowledge that there's a difference
between a processing/call to action and filling in a form field. These
are slightly different mental processes cognitively.
As always, know your audience and design accordingly. Oh, and when
you're making research claims or sharing findings, it's helpful to
share some background and context.
Cheers!
Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.
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