Re: Button research

Thanks for this Sharron!

Some comments inline below:


On 21.8.2014 17:33, Sharron Rush wrote:
> Greetings all,
>
> I committed to doing research on button placement and here are some examples of
> what I found.  You will not be surprised to learn that there is no "right" answer.
>
>   From UX Matters, 7 Best practices for Buttons:
>
>      "..on the vexing question of Next and Previous buttons in survey research.
>      You can find opinions everywhere­and they’re often backed up by references
>      to various style guides, articles, and even actual research."
>      The article goes on to say that context is everything and recommends that
>      the action be placed as close as possible to the final interaction on the
>      page in question.
>
> In my opinion this supports the idea of putting the Next button in the center of
> the page as the activities are so left-focused.
>
> Eyetracking
> <http://www.slideshare.net/cjforms/buttons-on-forms-and-surveys-a-look-at-some-research-2012>
> research
> <http://www.slideshare.net/cjforms/buttons-on-forms-and-surveys-a-look-at-some-research-2012>
> supports the idea that the best place for a button is aligned with the left side
> end of text boxes. Users searching for the Next control looked first just below
> the inputs, second at the right hand side and lastly to the left of the screen.
>
> The conclusion of Placement and Design of Navigation Buttons in Web Surveys
> <http://surveypractice.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/navigation-buttons/> is this:
>
>      "We recommend that designers consider the use of a hyperlink for the
>      /Previous/ or /Back/ function, or place the /Previous/ button below the
>      /Next/ button, either centered (if the questions are centered on the page or
>      the majority are presented horizontally) or on the left (if most of the
>      questions are presented vertically and left-justified)."
>
> Again, the question seems to marrow down to whether Next should be on the left
> or in the center. There is no page configuration for which they support putting
> the Next button to the right.

I might be misunderstanding this but it seems to me like they are 
talking about the positioning of the "back" or "previous" buttons, which 
we have on the left.


> These results seem to stem from a long standing... "Windows convention of
> placing the most frequently used functions on the left of the menu bar. For
> example, “Save” or “OK” is often on the left while “Cancel” is on the right (see
> Ferrell, 2009)."  Quote is from the same article.

This statement seems to be mixing between menu items and buttons in a 
dialog. It is clear that more frequently used menu items, like "file", 
"edit", etc are placed further left. It also seems pretty much usual for 
"OK" and "Cancel" buttons to be next to each other in a dialog as these 
are two choices that the user can take. However, for "back" and "next" 
buttons in a multi-step process it seems to me that they are more often 
placed left and right. I have not often seen it centered.


> Hope this is helpful, and please let me know if more research is needed.

It would be good to have working examples of similar applications for 
EOWG to select an approach and just go with it. As you cited: "You can 
find opinions everywhere­and they’re often backed up by references to 
various style guides, articles, and even actual research."

Thanks,
   Shadi


> Best,
> Sharron
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> <http://www.avast.com/> 	
>
> This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus
> <http://www.avast.com/> protection is active.
>
>

-- 
Shadi Abou-Zahra - http://www.w3.org/People/shadi/
Activity Lead, W3C/WAI International Program Office
Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG)
Research and Development Working Group (RDWG)

Received on Friday, 22 August 2014 08:04:52 UTC