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authorErik Lumme <erik@vaadin.com>2017-09-13 12:16:01 +0300
committerErik Lumme <erik@vaadin.com>2017-09-13 12:16:01 +0300
commited9fe9654f29d89bf51f797f61ff31992ba9e2eb (patch)
treea25024da0ff7802554c426cdbe5a6b09b94574a2 /documentation
parent26ceef75262c4678a42cd8c4575a662d349b5051 (diff)
downloadvaadin-framework-ed9fe9654f29d89bf51f797f61ff31992ba9e2eb.tar.gz
vaadin-framework-ed9fe9654f29d89bf51f797f61ff31992ba9e2eb.zip
Migrate LabelButtonsExpressively
Diffstat (limited to 'documentation')
-rw-r--r--documentation/articles/LabelButtonsExpressively.asciidoc51
-rw-r--r--documentation/articles/contents.asciidoc1
-rw-r--r--documentation/articles/img/save changes 1.pngbin0 -> 15932 bytes
-rw-r--r--documentation/articles/img/save changes 2.pngbin0 -> 20155 bytes
-rw-r--r--documentation/articles/img/save changes 3.pngbin0 -> 18639 bytes
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diff --git a/documentation/articles/LabelButtonsExpressively.asciidoc b/documentation/articles/LabelButtonsExpressively.asciidoc
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@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+[[label-buttons-expressively]]
+Label buttons expressively
+--------------------------
+
+People don’t read dialog box messages. They just click _“OK”_ or _“Yes”_
+or whichever button that seems like the right choice to make the dialog
+go away, without reading, or at least without really thinking about what
+it's trying to tell them.
+
+What this means for UI design is that it’s important to label buttons in
+a way that clearly indicates the result of pressing them, in order to
+prevent users from making the wrong choice with potentially disastrous
+results.
+
+Most desktop applications display a dialog like this when you attempt to
+close them without first saving the document you were working on:
+
+image:img/save%20changes%201.png[Save changes dialog]
+
+Sometimes, however, the same question is expressed in a subtly different
+way:
+
+image:img/save%20changes%202.png[Save changes "Are you sure..."]
+
+Needless to say, the risk of choosing the wrong answer is quite
+substantial, unless you actually take the time to read through the
+message (which most users do not). Of course it helps to stick to the
+most common way of asking these kinds of questions, and being consistent
+at least within your own applications. But there is room for improvement
+here.
+
+If the options were labelled *_“Save”_ and _“Discard”_* or *_“Save
+first”_ and _“Quit without saving”_*, instead of a simple _“Yes”_ and
+_“No”_, all ambiguity suddenly disappears. Even if the user doesn’t read
+a word of the message itself, the effects of these options is quite
+clear:
+
+image:img/save%20changes%203.png[Save changes button]
+
+This principle doesn’t just apply to buttons in dialog boxes, though.
+Even in other areas of a user interface, expressive labelling of actions
+reduces ambiguity and makes users more confident in their work.
+Consider, for instance, *_“Post”_* or even *_“Post comment”_* instead of
+the typical _“Submit”_ for posting a comment on a blog. If your
+_“Cancel”_ button doesn’t actually cancel anything, but rather resets a
+form or reverts some changes, consider labelling it *_“Revert”_* or
+*_“Reset form”_* instead.
+
+Also try to keep the label as short as possible, and consider starting
+with a verb. That way the user probably picks the right choice even if
+he only reads the first word of the label.
diff --git a/documentation/articles/contents.asciidoc b/documentation/articles/contents.asciidoc
index bff6b2d4a4..9ff9ef74f4 100644
--- a/documentation/articles/contents.asciidoc
+++ b/documentation/articles/contents.asciidoc
@@ -73,5 +73,6 @@ are great, too.
- link:CustomizingComponentThemeWithSass.asciidoc[Customizing component theme with Sass]
- link:WidgetStylingUsingOnlyCSS.asciidoc[Widget styling using only CSS]
- link:VisuallyDistinguishPrimaryActions.asciidoc[Visually distinguish primary actions]
+- link:LabelButtonsExpressively.asciidoc[Label buttons expressively]
- link:CreatingAUIExtension.asciidoc[Creating a UI extension]
- link:CreatingAThemeUsingSass.asciidoc[Creating a theme using Sass]
diff --git a/documentation/articles/img/save changes 1.png b/documentation/articles/img/save changes 1.png
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