Usability Tip: Use Verbs as Labels on Buttons
We’re all familiar with the “OK” and “Cancel” buttons you get on dialog boxes. Simple labels that ask us whether we agree or disagree to the next action the application wants to take. The interesting thing is that using exclamations like “OK” and “No” isn’t all that usable. Instead, you should use verbs. Let me illustrate this with an example.
Here’s a save dialog that we get in WordPad on Windows when you make some changes to a document try to quit without saving:
It asks you whether you want to save the changes. At the bottom we get the “Yes”, “No” and “Cancel” buttons. Their function is obvious once you read the dialog message above. On their own however, they mean very little because you need to know what you’re saying “Yes” or “No” to.
Here’s a very similar dialog in Mac OS X. Here I’m using a WordPad equivalent, TextEdit, and again I’m trying to quit without saving the changes to my document:
The message is similar to the Windows dialog — though it goes into more detail, explaining what will happen if you decline — but what’s more interesting is the button labels. They’re all verbs — “Don’t Save”, “Cancel” and “Save”. They all mean something even when disconnected from the message above.
How does this affect usability? Well — in the first example, you’d actually have to read the dialog box message before making a decision about which button to press. In the second example, you know what the dialog box is about just by reading the button labels — you don’t even need to read the message above to decide what to do. This not only saves time, but makes each choice clearer — the buttons tell you exactly what’s going to happen.
Now, this is a simple example using Windows and OS X, but this principle applies to all applications and web apps. Just by using verbs instead of exclamations on your buttons or links you’ll save your users time, as well as make all the choices clearer.
30 Aug, 2008
I have used both Windows and Mac, and never picked up on that point, but you are absolutely right! I plan on carrying that over to web design. Thanks for pointing it out!
30 Aug, 2008
Thanks for this great tip. It’s also worth noting that OS X places the cancel button in the middle of the two options. This makes sense to me because it is the neutral option and logically fits between yes and no.
I also like how ‘Don’t Save’ is further separated from ‘Save’ and ‘Cancel’. This gives it a greater importance and decreases the chance of clicking it accidentally.
31 Aug, 2008
Good article, and good observations as well, MikeWhoBikes. Will definitaly keep this stuff in mind!
31 Aug, 2008
Very good tip!
31 Aug, 2008
Using the same example as Dmitry (hope you don’t mind!) I’ve posted a few more recommendations for designing more usable dialog boxes: http://www.mikewhobikes.com/he.....button-do/
31 Aug, 2008
Oh my God you mean something might be better than Windows?!?!
Shock and Awe!
1 Sep, 2008
“Cancel” is still a bad choice of verbiage too, it isn’t necessarily apparent to the user that it will prevent the document from closing.
2 Sep, 2008
I never notice this issue before, but I think it’s more clear for users to know what’s happen.
Thanks for your tip.
2 Sep, 2008
Simple but effective. Similar to the advice not to use “click here” for links, because it doesn’t support the scanning behavior that real users demonstrate. Thanks for the post.
2 Sep, 2008
Willie: actually “click here” is very effective at getting click through rates — or at least a “click [to action]” combo. There was a study done a while back by Marketing Sherpa — here’s a short article by Copyblogger giving a quick overview of that: http://www.copyblogger.com/click-here/
2 Sep, 2008
Verbs in buttons make for good call to action, no matter how you put it :)
I first thought about it from a marketing perspective.
2 Sep, 2008
@GCranston
I don’t know if some of you have ever heard about this so called Windows Vista, thing out there?
because…… then you maybe have noticed that this is used in it ;)
2 Sep, 2008
When using the keyboard to interact it might be easier if you only encounter the standard choices OK, Yes, No and Cancel with their standard action keys and not have different confirmation buttons for each dialog box.
2 Sep, 2008
@cc
I think it is clear enough the user had to perform some action prior to the dialog box coming up. That being said it would be good to mention what is happening to have a bit more clarity
\@
Strangely enough I was thinking about /encountered this not too long ago and it was related to a dialog prompt which was extremely more confusing than it was helpful and then it just had ok, no, etc, whatever. It would definitely ensure more clarity.
3 Sep, 2008
@Rob Schlüter
The text on a button is in no way connected to keyboard-shortcuts. To the application or system the buttons are simply “Button 1″ “Button 2″ “Button 3″ and will react according to the role they are given by the logic. If “Button 1″ is assigned “Default” status then it will react to the “Enter” or “CR” key whether its legend says “Wash the Dishes” or “OK”.
3 Sep, 2008
cc and Peter: I agree about Cancel — however I can’t think of anything better to use in its place. I think it’s one of those things where we use the best possible solution, even if it’s not perfect.
Bernhard: I think Rob is talking about the letter shortcuts that are assigned to Yes (Y), No (N), Cancel etc. So that when a box pops up, you could hit the shortcut for yes, no or cancel instead of identifying the shortcut for the verbs the developers have chosen. Assigning something like “Y” for “Save” would also be confusing since they mismatch. I think it’s a valid point.
5 Sep, 2008
This article is bit outdated, Microsoft 2 years old User Expirience Guildines is about:
>> Prefer specific responses to Yes and No buttons.
>> While there’s nothing wrong with using Yes and No, specific responses can
>> be understood more quickly, resulting in efficient decision making.
“specific responses” is “Run”, “Save” and so on…
Flow this link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u.....nstruction to get more details.
5 Sep, 2008
Nice post: simple and very effective tip! Thanks!
5 Sep, 2008
Thanks for the link Mike. I wasn’t really comparing the two operating systems here, just illustrating a usability principle. Vista, for example, is a little better on the dialogs.
10 Sep, 2008
Very interesting comment. I hadn’t given a thought about it but sounds logical
One think I find irritating about Mac OS’s usability issues is the fact that the click area in sub-menus is so reduced that many times I click a tad outside this area that nothing is actually clicked and the sub-menu rolls back. I find this irritating. In this aspect, Windows behaves much more better.
15 Sep, 2008
[...] button label, Usability, verbs Jeff Saxton at FutureNow pointed me to a post by Dmitry at Usability Post with a really good [...]
15 Sep, 2008
Great tip! Simple but easily overlooked. This will definitely help in improving conversion rates on websites. Definitely an important tip to remember on eCommerce sites.
17 Sep, 2008
[...] Usability Tip: Use Verbs as Labels on Buttons [...]
19 Sep, 2008
I don’t get it, so Mac OSX is for lazy people?
I use both XP, Vista (rarely), and OSX.
20 Sep, 2008
Good article, I did enjoy it greatly. Reading the comments left by users was just as interesting too. It clearly demonstrates why there the two systems attract completely different user bases. Being a long time mac and windows user, I still prefer the mac prompts as they are easier to understand to me. I find that I am forced to read the entire prompt on Windows before making my selection. Generally I know what I want to do when I get a prompt. I simply need only to look for the verbiage that supports my action like in Mac OS X. I find that my work in Windows is less productive because of the tiny details such as this. But again, that’s why we have options. Thanks for an interesting article!
21 Sep, 2008
i think instead of cancel the button should name “back to application”
24 Sep, 2008
Using verbs as labels is a good choice as it makes each button’s function clear to the user and if you refer back to Marketing 101, give your user/viewer a call to action. These kinds of buttons are all about getting the user to do something.
Vague buttons like Yes/No/Cancel do not clearly instruct the user as to what their options are.
Windows prompts are historically confusing. All the “security” dialogs that pop up the first time you run Internet Explorer on Windows is confirmation of this bad user experience design. The prompts are word heavy and somewhat contradictory, making you deduce the prompt’s question and options before you can click a button and make it go away.
I do agree about the Mac pop out menu size though, they are kind of slim and it’s easy to accidentally click outside of them, causing you to repeat navigating the menu. Another bad user experience.
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28 Oct, 2008
Mike the post is not out-dated just the example. The point was not to say Mac is better than PC.
Buttons are still better with verbs on them regardless of what year it is.
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