Button order preference

lefreut

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Tresset

I must admit... That change did annoy and confuse me initially, and I often pushed the wrong button, but I believe I have just about gotten used to it by now. Not sure which I prefer.

Ravenslight

I seem to be checking my settings, or looking through possible options more often than actually setting them, so the having the cancel button on the right has always felt right to me.

lefreut

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argent77

I guess the decision is strongly influenced by the operating system we are using. Personally I prefer Done left and Cancel on the right side (which is the default order on Windows).

[Deleted User]

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BillyYank

I don't know what it is, but it just seems more natural to me to go to the lower right to hit done. I used to hit cancel all the time in 1.3. The odd thing is that the 1.3 order is the way dialog boxes in Windows are set up. It might be that Windows dialogs usually have both buttons in the lower right so even though "OK" is to the left of "Cancel", it's still to the right of the dialog box.

cmk24

Cancel on the left seems more natural to me (the default order for Mac dialog boxes).

gorgonzola

I don't use mac, but that way is also more natural for me, even if there is not much difference imo as who learns fast learns fast in both ways and who, like me, is slow read always before clicking

ThacoBell

I have no real preference, though I am used to having done on the right at this point.

dib

Either one is fine really, as long as it's consistent on all interfaces.

lroumen

Depends on gui flow. If you end left, approve left. If you end right, approve right. But all gui screens should end on the same side.

lefreut

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mashedtaters

It's more natural for me to, seems that most programs are written with the ok/done/accept button on the right.
Baldur's gate is the oddball out on this one, for me.

Thels

Ehh, Done to the left and Cancel to the right feels way more natural to me, and I always get confused when games swap them out.

When we go into a screen and edit something, it's much more likely that we want to accept those edits than cancel them. Else why would we have made the edits. Hence, Done is the more natural button to press.

Combine that with most languages being written from left to right, it makes total sense that buttons are scanned from left to right as well, so Done should be the first button your eyes come across, not Cancel.

gorgonzola

Thels said:

Combine that with most languages being written from left to right, it makes total sense that buttons are scanned from left to right as well, so Done should be the first button your eyes come across, not Cancel.

True, but is also true that when you edit something you first do the editing than you approve it, is the last action, so there is also a logic in having it to the right as the last action of the sequence is in the last place of the page.
Both logics are good, each person will find one or the other more natural.

Thels

Sure, you edit something, and then accept your changes. I fail to see how that would fit the Accept button to the right as the last action, as that would mean the Cancel button would then be the beforelast action?

gorgonzola

No, it would mean that the accepting is the usual last action, the cancelling is a change in your plans, even if is itself a last action of a flow it implies a re thinking and a change of opinion.
Let's say that you want to set a sequencer, you open the window casting the spell, than you select the spells to put in the trigger and finally you confirm, that is the normal flow, if you decide to abort the sequencer creation after you have started it you are well aware that the usual flow has been disrupted.

Thels

Sure, that makes sense.

I just fail to see how that relates to Accept being on the right side.

gorgonzola

Because accept occupy the last place in the normal flow of action and the right side is where in western languages the last word is placed, a flow of text ends.

But I was thinking about it and maybe logic is not the word we must use dealing with this kind of things, instead we must talk of what is more intuitive or natural to a person. And the fact that this poll at now results in a draw shows how the ting is really subjective, some of us have chosen for an analogy of other games behavior, others for an analogy with operating systems, others for an analogy with text flow in western languages.
When I quoted you I told "Both logics are good, each person will find one or the other more natural", you feel more natural to have it to the left because so it occupy the first place in the last row, I feel the opposite because so it ends better the flow of actions, but in the end both our positions are just rationalizations of what we feel more natural almost instinctively.

CrevsDaak

Actually, it depends on the screen. On some I prefer it to be 2.3 style and in other screens, 1.3 style. Just for convenience because there are some options I toggle more than others.

[Deleted User]

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BillyYank

That's only because the box is so small. As I mentioned in my post above, that is the usual Window order, but...


When the dialog box is larger, both buttons are down and right.

lefreut

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Thels

@Gorgonzona: Done at the end of the process, sure.

But the line that holds the Cancel and the Done button is not a line you progress along. Your progress doesn't take you along the Cancel button.

Logic dictates Done is on the left, not the right, because it's generally more important than the Cancel button.

But it's really about what people find more convenient and intuitive.

lroumen

In good ui designs the accept button is closest to the last potential clicking location (of where you set an option).
If the option is on the right, the accept is there too. Cancel is always furthest away.

It is all about reducing mouse movement and having to flip your eyes too much when reading. That is also why western style buttons are on the righthandside of the text. Putting them on the left is counter intuitive

[Deleted User]

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lroumen

They just follow the rules of ui design.
Verification follows right after the reading direction.

For Windows, the interaction part of the window is in the center of the screen, the verification is on the right because it expects western style users.
If you have a piece of text then the interaction button (boolean or string/value input) follows after, again western style is right.
If the accept and cancel buttons are far far away from the last clickable item or readable item, or if it is in another frame of reference (pop ups), then the accept is on the side where you expect the user to start reading. So for Western style, if you get two boxes you always expect them to start reading the contents of the left box before going to the box on its right.
Confirmation is the first thing you want users to see and it follows the reading direction because they are taught to read that way (i.e. not taught through brainwashing).
Confirmation is the first thing you want users to see just because of marketing reasons as well. Accept these terms no matter what by clicking this next button... Even if the acceptance is totally optional (newsletter subscriptions).

I think it is way more interesting to know which of the voters is actually non-native left-to-right-reader because that should affect their choice the most.

Thels

lroumen said:

In good ui designs the accept button is closest to the last potential clicking location (of where you set an option).
If the option is on the right, the accept is there too. Cancel is always furthest away.

I don't agree there.

Consistency in location would, at least to me, feel more important than being closer to what could have been the most recently pressed box. If due to the layout of the rest of the window, the Accept button is sometimes on the left, and sometimes on the right, that would to me feel like terrible ui design.

BillyYank

I think we should be keeping muscle memory in mind here. Anyone who's spent a lot of time working in Windows is naturally going move down and right when they're finished, whether they're planning to hit OK or Cancel. So if we're going to stick with the symmetrical buttons, I think the button to the right should be the one that's most likely to be the one the player wants to hit.

lroumen

Thels said:

lroumen said:

In good ui designs the accept button is closest to the last potential clicking location (of where you set an option).
If the option is on the right, the accept is there too. Cancel is always furthest away.

I don't agree there.

Consistency in location would, at least to me, feel more important than being closer to what could have been the most recently pressed box. If due to the layout of the rest of the window, the Accept button is sometimes on the left, and sometimes on the right, that would to me feel like terrible ui design.

Well, I am just stating the rules of ui design, mostly of 1 window but maybe i did not clarify transitions between windows.
Consistency between windows is also part of the ui design. If someone made the reading and movement flow of all the windows differently then they made a poor design.
Suppose one window focuses you to look from left to right and the next from top to bottom, you would go crazy. Those changes in focus and flow can only truly be done if the reference frame is 100% changed, so it does not work well for in-game or in-menu transitions but will work decently between menu-game transitions... and for bg, this scenario is actually only mainmenu-game transitions and not between inventory-spellbook etc menus because those screens are in-game ui parts.