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Background

We have a list of users. Now the users have a button Edit that leads him directly to an edit screen:

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In other parts of the app we have a similar list just there we have a Detail button that brings a user to a Detail first and then he can start editing.

Questions

  • Is it a bad practice to skip Detail view?
  • Is the inconsistency that bad?
  • If the pattern is fine, should the Edit mode be presented in popup?

Tags

I'm a UX newbie and don't know what tags to use. If u had an idea, please update the question.

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3 Answers 3

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1

If the data they need to edit is the one you're showing in your screen, then it's OK.

If the details are more than what you see, then you probably shouldn't skip a read state. More sooner than later, users will find themselves in one or more of these situations:

  1. Users wondering what to edit (is it just what they see? is there more?)
  2. Users wondering if data is OK
  3. Users not knowing WHAT to edit
  4. Users wondering if edition was successful
  5. Users having to perform extra steps just to verify if data is OK
  6. Users afraid of "breaking something" because they have to perform actions that may modify information instead of expected reading (eg non-destructive) behavior

Of course, like everything UX, you can (and should) test it, but in the end... does change the expected CRUD pattern bring a benefit at all? If so... well, try and test it out. If not, or if benefits are negligible, just go with the expected pattern and minimize friction for users

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  • Hi Devin, I'm confused with points 1. and 3. Are you speeking about EDIT or DETAIL? Because if about EDIT then users can see directly what is to be edited. But yeah, I didn't realize points 2, 4, 5 and 6 would be an issue. For me this the right answer. Thank you. (Still, please explain me the points 1 and 3 if you had time. ;-)
    – Amio.io
    Nov 17, 2017 at 9:56
  • check out auth0.com forms. Majority of their forms is missing DETAIL. I've been using them for some while and in this direction I don't feel any friction (personally).
    – Amio.io
    Nov 17, 2017 at 15:55
  • @zatziky, 1 and 3 are related to the fact I mention in the first paragraph, I'm not sure if what the users see on those rows is all the information they'll have to edit, or if there's more. Hence why I said users will find one or more, but not ALL of the conditions. As for the second comment, maybe they tested it? Maybe they don't? Maybe they don't care? (sadly, ignoring UX is not common, it's more like the norm, so it wouldn't be that strange). I don't know what to tell you about them, so again: if in doubt... test it! :)
    – Devin
    Nov 17, 2017 at 16:38
  • I didn't mean to say they are right. :) Just that they tried that. Thank you Devin. (P.S.: Unfortunately, we won't be testing it either... but will modified it from some feedbacks. At least now, when we are in a hurry!)
    – Amio.io
    Nov 17, 2017 at 16:53
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It's not necessarily a bad practice to skip detail view. I think there are two salient points here:

  1. Inconsistency can be frustrating to the user. If the UI looks the same but I have to take different actions to get to the same place that's friction. I'd shoot for consistency with whichever approach you choose.

  2. What's the value in your detail view? I've worked on applications where a detail view was added by default and wasn't adding much value. In those cases they're easy to remove. In other cases I've had useful detail views and a set of user permissions that allowed everyone to view, but only certain users to edit. For those cases having both "show" and "edit" buttons for users that could do so was useful.

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  • 1
    ad 1. - Inconsistency can be indeed frustrating. However, sometimes when I'm using an app I feel like I'm doing some steps I don't have to - it feels like a friction too, does it? ad 2. - There ain't no additional fields in the detail view AND no roles. The reason I'm discussing it is especially to save us time developing an additional screen. I just want to verify we will not make something "too bad".
    – Amio.io
    Nov 17, 2017 at 9:51
1

It's ok to go directly to the Edit screen if the context allows.

What it sounds like you are worried about is people's dismay at not seeing the detail screen, and unless that page looks very similar to this one, I wouldn't worry. Remember — coherence over consistency.

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  • Man, it's first time I hear "coherence over consistency" but it makes sense. Our case is more about saving time during development though. Thank you for the opinion.
    – Amio.io
    Nov 17, 2017 at 9:46

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