OK – Cancel or Cancel – OK?
There are 2 classic button sequences in the dialog boxes:
- OK / Cancel
- Cancel / OK
Each option has its own reasons for existence:
- “OK” at the beginning. When reading from left to right, as is done in English, Russian and many other languages, OK goes first and then Cancel. The same reason is used to arrange the Yes / No or Previous / Next buttons in that order. Also, when moving through buttons using Tab, to get to OK, which is often needed by the user, you will need one click less than Cancel.
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- “OK” at the end. More correctly from the point of view of flow, as choosing “OK” - we end the dialogue. Also, by analogy with Previous / Next, choosing OK the user moves forward, and Cancel - throws it back. From this point of view, OK = Next, and should be at the end.
It does not matter as much as you arrange these buttons. Each of these options has its own strong arguments and none will lead to usability catastrophe. But in some cases it will save the user 0.1 seconds.
To decide how best you can do it in your application - it is enough to follow the standards of the GUI platform on which your application runs.
Unfortunately, the Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines differ from the Apple Human Interface Guidelines when it comes to the OK / Cancel buttons:
- In Windows OK, put at the beginning
- Apple OK is placed at the end
If you are developing a desktop application - do it as is customary in your OS.
By meeting the user's expectations of this OS, you will save him more time and save him from stupid mistakes.
If you are developing a web application, the choice is more difficult to make.
Again, you can try to arrange the buttons, considering what platforms you have more users. Your server logs will give you the necessary information.
However, a more universal recommendation can be made for web applications:
- Use in the title of the button the text that describes what exactly this button does. For example, write Save instead of OK.
- Set the default focus on the more frequently used button and highlight it in color. In this case, it will be easy to make the desired choice by pressing Enter.
Read more: www.useit.com/alertbox/ok-cancel.html
- OK / Cancel
- Cancel / OK
Each option has its own reasons for existence:
- “OK” at the beginning. When reading from left to right, as is done in English, Russian and many other languages, OK goes first and then Cancel. The same reason is used to arrange the Yes / No or Previous / Next buttons in that order. Also, when moving through buttons using Tab, to get to OK, which is often needed by the user, you will need one click less than Cancel.
')
- “OK” at the end. More correctly from the point of view of flow, as choosing “OK” - we end the dialogue. Also, by analogy with Previous / Next, choosing OK the user moves forward, and Cancel - throws it back. From this point of view, OK = Next, and should be at the end.
It does not matter as much as you arrange these buttons. Each of these options has its own strong arguments and none will lead to usability catastrophe. But in some cases it will save the user 0.1 seconds.
To decide how best you can do it in your application - it is enough to follow the standards of the GUI platform on which your application runs.
Unfortunately, the Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines differ from the Apple Human Interface Guidelines when it comes to the OK / Cancel buttons:
- In Windows OK, put at the beginning
- Apple OK is placed at the end
If you are developing a desktop application - do it as is customary in your OS.
By meeting the user's expectations of this OS, you will save him more time and save him from stupid mistakes.
If you are developing a web application, the choice is more difficult to make.
Again, you can try to arrange the buttons, considering what platforms you have more users. Your server logs will give you the necessary information.
However, a more universal recommendation can be made for web applications:
- Use in the title of the button the text that describes what exactly this button does. For example, write Save instead of OK.
- Set the default focus on the more frequently used button and highlight it in color. In this case, it will be easy to make the desired choice by pressing Enter.
Read more: www.useit.com/alertbox/ok-cancel.html
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/26380/
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