Why Your Form Buttons Should Never Say 'Submit'
uxmovement.com
uxmovement.com
Using "submit" as your label? So are thousands of other sites. Your users won't be confused.
Using something more descriptive? That's fine too. Maybe it looks a little nicer and less generic. But it's not a usability problem.
Don't worry about this for a second. Instead focus on the real problems, like creating usable and accessible form fields with associated labels. Write easy to follow directions that explain which fields are required and what format you're expecting (or write better error handling techniques to accept a variety of inputs.) Write and make visible appropriate error messages to help your users through the process so they don't make mistakes. Record the mistakes they make so you can use that data to engineer your forms in ways that reduce user errors.
There are so many other things worth your attention.
Instead of worrying about submit buttons, which by the way generally exist a lone entities at the end of a form (which makes it's use even more obvious), worry about the actual usability of your forms and the logic behind the error handling.
tl;dr => In more cases than not it's more correct to use 'submit' as button copy than a more verbose counterpart when submitting forms.
> when submitting data the users have been
> clicking on submit buttons for more than
> a decade to do so
You designed an interaction that requires the user to press a button. Take an additional 30 seconds to describe on its label what the effect of pressing that button is.
I try to include some context in the submit button but still make it clear that it will submit the form. Short, generic verbs seem to work well, like "Save", "Delete", or "Send".
EDIT: thinking more about this, I think what's important is to use a verb that applies specifically to the form data as opposed to the whole task: You send a reply, you don't reply a reply.
Presumably I already clicked something to the effect of "create user" to get to the form, and now I have to click "create user" again? What?
Yup. Another risk is using an ambiguous phrasing, such as on this very web site: in order to post your comment, you have to click on a button that says "Leave comment".
Does this mean the button will post my comment or abandon it because I want to leave?
Unit composition, racial balance, specific attack/scouting timings, etc. profoundly don't matter if you can't scrape together a hundred food army and an expansion 10-15 mins into a game. If you can, you can start strategerizing.
The parallel is funny to me.
1. You get form, and go fill it out
2. You bring back the form and hand it to the receptionist
3. You get a range of responses ranging from nothing to a helpful answer.
Sounds exactly like an HTML form to me.
Is this the sort of parallel you want your users thinking of? Probably not, but it's also not some arcane terminology only programmers use either.
(edited for formatting)
ew, no. For me at least "sign up now" implies starting the sign up process. I would think "complete registration" or "create account" or "finish and create account" would be much better than "sign up now" especially if you've previously used "sign up" wording.
Hitting the "Submit" button happens within a context.
The person just filled out a form. That form showed up in their web browser because they navigated to the page the form was on. Much of the time that navigation was the result of clicking on a descriptive link, like "Create an Account". The person filling out the form knows that they are completing a task that they started by filling out the form. Submit, as others have said here, is a perfectly logical name for the button (just like submitting a paper form to a real person).
You could try to make it more descriptive, but you run the risk of confusing the user with things like "Create Account". I agree with others here, that in some contexts, and for some users, rather than clarifying what is happening, you will confuse them into thinking the "Create Account" button starts the process over again at a blank form (rather than submitting the form they just filled out).
Also, it isn't like this is new technology. Anyone who has any significant amount of experience using the web in the last ten years (or more even) has filled out an HTML form, and a high percentage of those forms have submission buttons that read "Submit". Even non-technical users understand it. I can't think of a single case where a person has talked to me because they have been confused by a "Submit" button. And of the few people I can think of that might have trouble with an HTML form, renaming the submit button would do absolutely no good (because they are the type of people who are so afraid that they'll do something wrong on the computer and delete all the information in the known universe :-D )
(laughing to myself as I click the "reply" button -- I missed that part of your comment until after I noticed the button)
I remember being impressed by the Mac HIG that said all dialogs should have buttons with a verb instead of the typical Windows "Ok"/"Cancel". It informs the user slightly more and, I think, reduces the likelihood of automatically clicking "Ok" as some interfaces effectively 'train' a user to do.
The fact is that pop-ups interrupt you with a nag, and the user's desire is to get rid of it as soon as possible (regardless of which action they actually want to take). Putting the text on the button itself speeds this process up, and reduces errors.
Submitting a form is a MUCH MUCH slower, and more thoughtful process. You can make a snark about replying quickly to a comment, but have you ever WATCHED a user deal with a message popup they've seen before? Blink and you'll miss the whole thing.
Even more importantly, most forms have only ONE button. I bet you could label it simply "Button" and a ton of your users would never even notice.
The reality, though, is that we're all guessing. Unless you go to the effort to A/B test something like that, it's just voodoo.
But regardless, we'll be changing the "Submit" button to "Sign In".
Perhaps the woman in question might prefer that they all displayed, "Dominate". [Sorry: it just seems worth the down-votes.]
The internet is like a dominatrix. Everywhere I turn it asks me to submit.
-To continue closing the program and save the document, click "Yes"
-To continue working without saving, click "Cancel"
-To save and then continue working click "No"
In examples provided, 'submit' is used. "Never say 'Submit'" indeed.
Without context, how are you supposed to say what the 'submit' button should be changed to?
Additionally, many Windows apps still use OK, Cancel, Apply buttons in settings dialogs. The instant saving of settings is more of a Mac thing. Users are going to expect similar things from UI on the web, and the majority are probably new to the idea of no save/cancel choice.