Sometimes we ask users to confirm their actions. This makes sense in any situation where the action is not easily undone. Powering down a complicated audio/video system, for example, can take minutes to bring back online which would be frustrating if done by accident. OK. That makes sense, right? I mean, we’ve been doing this for a long time. No big deal. You hit the power button and a page pops up asking the user to confirm their action. But it seems the implementation of this simple idea hasn’t gotten enough love. Let’s take a look at a few examples before we reveal our solution.

Example 1:
We know that eyes are drawn to buttons, but the button labels here are meaningless by themselves, forcing the user to read the confirmation message. If the user intended to turn the power off, they will correctly assume what they are confirming, but remember, the confirmation page is here to catch actions that were done by mistake.

Example 2:
Here again, the button labels aren’t any help. In fact, in this case, they don’t even answer the question asked in the confirmation message. The button colors are another issue here. Red gives the cancel button a lot of weight and green doesn’t convey that it’s the action to be careful of.

Example 3:
The button labels are once again meaningless and force the user to read the confirmation message. At least the confirmation message is the center of attention … which unfortunately also drives the buttons too far apart. As with the previous example, the color coding is counter-intuitive and the button labels don’t properly address the question.

Solution:
Our user-friendly solution has buttons with meaningful labels making their function clear without requiring the support of the confirmation message. Coming to this page will be intentional most of the time, so we added weight to the “shutdown” button by making it wider. We also color coded it red to warn the user of its action. The confirmation message is clear and the cancel button is comfortably available.

Uiology™ is our study of user interfaces. In this series we will analyze and document solutions to the GUI, the bad, and the ugly — seeking to raise the bar for the industry we know and love. Drop your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.

About 6 months ago, we released an all new product category named Background Sets. Since that time, Background Sets has become one of our most popular product categories. We’ve gotten back a ton of positive feedback and some much appreciated suggestions for future sets. We’ve listened and we’re happy to present to you, Terra, 8 beautiful Hi-Res (1550×1120) naturally-textured images. Enjoy!

Have ideas for more Backgrounds Sets? Be sure to let us know!

This month Private Stock adds support for Classe with this beautiful disc player icon. The updated set is available now for immediate download. Icons improve the user experience by speeding up visual recognition of interface functions as well as by adding curb appeal.

New icons will continue to be added to Private Stock on the 1st of every month. Equipment manufacturers interested in getting on the release schedule should contact us.