[IxDA Discuss] Meaningful labels

[Katie Albers]

I have never seen a use of "Okay/Cancel" that I consider generally 
coherent. Cancel what? the transaction? the submission of the data? 
The error (and what does *that* mean)? Unless the test defines "Press 
Cancel to void all entries and return to the beginning" or similar, 
it doesn't have meaning except in the tech world.

There are way too many times when either "cancel" or "okay" means 
"I've read this message. Let's move on now." And there are almost no 
cases in which that could not be the meaning of the button.

"Okay" suffers from similar inspecifity. What is "Okay"? the data as 
entered (in which case, "cancel" is not the opposite...Perhaps "Void" 
would be)? To proceed from the point where the message appeared with 
everything as is?

Step outside of the technical construct when creating such messages 
and ask yourselves questions like "Cancel what?" "Okay what?" What 
does this apply to? what is the result of this selection and is this 
the most direct way of expressing it? We all still suffer from the 
"Abort/Kill/Delete" problem to some extent.

If it means massive reprogramming to make the buttons read 
differently...tough. How many errors are acceptable because you chose 
to be lazy?

kt



>    - "Use positive commit buttons that are specific responses to the main
>    instruction instead of generic labels (such as "OK"). Users should be able
>    to quickly grasp the options by reading the button text alone. Always start
>    commit button labels with a verb."