Is there a recommended location for a submit button in relation to a cancel on the web?

Question

On the web, is there a recommended location for the submit (Go, Search, Submit, etc) button in relation to the cancel, reset or back button? I'm thinking the recommended positions makes it easiest for the user to find and maybe even the most common position.

I'm coming from a general perspective for everything from a simple contact form, to a multi-page registration form, to large internal database forms. I'm kind of wondering if there is one that has been researched to be better for the user.

I personally like putting on the far right with the cancel on the left. To me this makes the most sense as it's on the right, therefore moving forward or going to the next step. It also makes sense to me because it'd be the last thing someone would see when their eye is moving from top left to bottom right. But these are my only guesses with no research.

Answer 1

Luke Wroblewski wrote about this issue in detail in his book Web Form Design. I really recommend reading his in-depth article:

http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles/psactions.asp

Answer 2

Jakob Nielsen says to do what your users expect.

If you're designing a Web-based application, the decision is harder, but you should probably go with the platform preferred by most of your users. Your server logs will show you the percentage of Windows vs. Mac users for your specific website or intranet. Of course, Windows generally has many more users, so if you can't be bothered to check the logs, then the guideline that will apply to most situations is: OK first, Cancel last.

I found this article through a similar question on Stack Overflow: OK-Cancel or Cancel-OK?.

Answer 3

Most users read a page from left to right, so I would imagine that putting the Save/Submit button on the left. What's more important though, is to make the action button more obvious than the cancel button, for example making the Save button a button and the Cancel button a link.

Answer 4

If user is filling form with tabbing where save is on the right most then it would be hard for him to press 2 tabs or more to reach to save button.

What i do: I generally give different visual cue (colors) to buttons and put desired action on the left not the right(i know lots of people would be disagree with me). You can note that below "Post your Answer" is on the left not the right:)