Forum Moderators: open
So do any of you use clear buttons in your forms anymore? Do you believe anybody uses clear buttons when they are there? Since most forms out there don't use them, do novice users even know what they are?
[useit.com...]
You tend to only see reset buttons on amateur sites these days. If you really need one, then it should at least be styled differently from the submit button.
Exception: Use Reset for Repeated Form-Filling
Reset can be useful for forms that satisfy both of the following criteria:
* the form is filled-in repeatedly by the same user
* the data to be entered differs significantly from one use of the form to the nextEven if a user were to use a form frequently, the reset button would still not be necessary
if the data was mostly the same from one use to the next. In these cases, it would be
easier for the user to edit the old data than to erase it and start from scratch.
You should get rid of any "Clear", "Reset" or "Cancel" buttons
I knew they were good for nothin.
Since even Nielsen allows for some exceptions (several of which tedster has listed), that's a bit of an overstatement. Better to say that they are of very limited usefulness.
The only one I really have found much use for is the "Cancel" button, which Nielsen also discusses in the page linked above, shortly after the section tedster cited. He recommends using it "sparingly," viz. in a situation where someone using "Back" doesn't work or might be more confusing. (See also the added note about canceling/stopping a download, etc.)
I've argued this to death with him, but can't pursuade him. Anybody have some good arguments I could use? Anybody agree with him?
<html>
<head>
<title>reset button</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<style type="text/css">
.sub {
font-size:110%;
color:#c00;
font-weight:bold;
}
.res {
font-size:70%;
color:#555;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<form action="">
<input class="sub" type="submit" value="Send the form"> <input class="res" type="reset" value="Clear the form">
</form>
</body>
</html>
Example: a member login that loads their data in an edit profile form. They change a few fields and hit reset, and it loads the original data - it does not clear them. The only reason it **appears** to do so on most forms is that the form initially loads blank. Which is it's original state. :-)
He doesn't agree with Nielson, saying Nielson "seems to equate usability with herding cattle, i.e. give them only one route down the path of the developer's choosing." And also that Nielson and us developers sometimes lost track of how little people know of how the internet works.
As I see it, his argument is "users know so little that we have to give them more choices".
My natural response is, "since people know so little of how the Internet works, it serves them best to offer the smallest number of choices consistent with accomplishing their tasks". Choices are appropriate for knowledgeable users.
However, it sounds like your boss has made up his mind and isn't really interested. That he thinks of Nielsen as a bureaucratic authority he's going to resist. It probably won't do much good to point out that Nielsen is an authority who actually thinks, researches, reconsiders, and is respected not because he's powerful but because he's astute.
So ... good luck. I can't recommend trying to change his mind. At least in this case his recommendation is a common, familiar element, not something off the wall.
Edward
Edward
chadmg: He believes that if a user fills out the form and decides not to submit it, they may not want their data in the fields anymore.
I agree. What about a kiosk situation where one person might enter information, submit or clear as s/he wishes, and then walk away? If I'm the next person up there, I may be able to get at that information. With either a submit or clear, you can execute code which will leave nothing to find, but using the "back" button leaves your information easily retrievable.
Nielsen very strongly says that users prefer to use Back, and his statements are based on actually observing users
This is, of course, foundational to his argument. Unfortunately, on the page discussing these buttons, Nielsen does not lay out exactly how this has been observed nor link to an explanation (testing results, etc). Instead he seems to jump on that generalization to justify his own belief.
Note, I am not saying that Nielsen's conclusion is incorrect! But by failing to include the specifics of these observations at this point, he makes it difficult for us to assess how well they support the specific case he is making.
(It's rather like a politician citing poll numbers to "prove" a point, without giving you the exact wording of the questions, or the "internals" that help you to interpret what people mean by the answers cited.)
So, does anyone know where on his site he does lay out the details of this study (on use of the Back button, etc)?
That said, I found two columns with links to external papers about navigation:
The second paper has a lot of references to other work. And there's probably a lot more from recent years.
Those papers appear (I haven't done more than a brief skim of either) to be studying navigation behavior in general and probably say nothing about backing out of forms specifically. Still, the figures they cite for frequency of back button use strongly implies that almost all users hit Back, and hit it a lot.
Edward
Also, Nielsen very strongly says that users prefer to use Back.
This I believe would be true, or at least I agree - I feel that it is more convenient for the majority of people to click a back link after reading a page as they tend to be at the bottom of pages, and if the user reads the whole page, then they would normally see that button. However, some people like to use backspace, as it is convenient, and quick... I think it depends on the user you're dealing with.
Edward
I also fear pressing back at all when it comes down to ecommerce and any sort of online shopping. For example, ebay. I worry I might re-add an item, or re-bid. So I use the links provided to go back. You would think that the majority of people would understand that the web designer/s wouldn't put a back button if it was unsafe. I usualy feel more safe with the ones provided anyway, for that same reason. I hardly ever use the browser provided back button.
The second paper has a lot of references to other work. And there's probably a lot more from recent years.
Thanks for the references, paleolith. A bit sorry to see that the most recent one is now six years old (though I can't offer anything more recent myself).
I suspect there has indeed been more work on this, and that Nielsen's observations are generally correct. But it still would be nice to see more detail, more recent studies, and particularly some indication of any exceptions to help us judge just when a Back button is NOT the best choice.
