To success or not to success?

Question

I searched around if it's really a must especially in web.

I found two great UX SE answer.

One is from: https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/11652/86963

The other is from: https://ux.stackexchange.com/a/23354/86963

The first answer seems to say it is not really required.

The second one seems to say just put it in "right" place.

My question now is:

• Do I need to put "success" message? Or only if there's a failure?
• If yes, where? Top right? Bottom right? Bottom center full width? Top center full width?

EDIT The context I have on my mind currently is when creating new record. After submitting the form, redirecting to a new page, do I need to show a notification/toast/popup or anything?

Answer 1

Do you need to put success message? Yes. You need to put success message.

When we use web; we actually have conversation with the applications we use. So when I have performed some action, the system, as a second person in conversation should inform me that I have performed the right action. An action such as; buying a product, filling a form, sending an email etc.

“Always display validation within the context of the action”:

• If the message is meant to be for form field - display it nearby the field.

• If the message is meant to be for a section - display it on top of the section.

• If the message is meant to be for the entire page - display it on top of the page so the user doesn't miss it.

Grouping validation messages at the top or bottom of a page away from the inputs in question separates the link between inputs and errors and should be avoided at all costs. If a user can’t see an error message or likewise find the inputs they will very rapidly get frustrated and bounce (I know I would).

https://medium.com/@andrew.burton/form-validation-best-practices-8e3bec7d0549#.xkeb6ld96

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Update

The first link in the question is referring to MS Windows, which is a local action user takes on his own machine. When we think about web applications, that answer fails. When we deal with online applications.. it's never local - there's an another application who is fulfilling our requirements. In most cases we are not sure if something is worked, hence it's necessary that the application informs us about the activities we performed.

Answer 2

There must be some sort of feedback so users know their action succeeded. If there's a noticeable change on the page (e.g., the selected email message is gone), then you don't need an explicit success message. If not, then you'll need that little notice.

Its placement is up to you, as long as it's noticeable. (Don't display that notice in a place that might be out of view if the user has scrolled down the page.) I'd advise against using a modal window that the user has to close before continuing (except in special cases).

In some cases, like deleting from the Netflix DVD queue, they put the success message in the queue where the deleted item was, and combine with other actions, like "Undo."

Answer 3

You need to show feedback, but not necessarily a text message.

If I hit a key when typing, a letter shows up on screen. It's a very small action and it is immediately visible what changed, so having a success popup for that would be overkill. Along the same lines, when I delete a file (in windows, with the delete key) the icon disappears; it's immediately visible what changed. Both of these actions have feedback without an explicit message.

I don't know your current interface, but if it shows an overview or navigation pane or something similar, you could have the form scale down and move into the list. Strongly visualizing that you take the new record and put it in with the rest.