As a bit of background, I would like to show you some wireframes in the web application.
This is a screen for managing a list of users in the system. Note that by just clicking a trash or disabled button, the account is deleted or disabled, there is no need to submit the form.
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
These are 2 sample screens from an "edit user account page".
This is the "Account info" tab which contains a save button:
This is the "Emails" tab that does not contain a save button:
I am now working on a page to edit a group. Groups are basically just a collection of users. The user can edit the group's name, description and add/remove users from the group. Certain users can also be made leaders of the group:
Problem: Based on the the above mockup, there are several inconsistences:
In the "Emails" tab of the "Edit account" page, there is no need to press a save button. Actions are processed immediately. However, here, while the interface updates when we remove/add a user from a group or make someone a leader, a save button is still required to save the changes.
The "remove leader status" and "make a leader" may not be the best choice of words and perhaps might even be confusing.
Requirements:
Upon clicking the "save changes" button, the user should be taken back to a list of all groups and a message disabled that the group has been saved successfully.
The same interface should be used when someone is creating a new group.
A cancel or discard button is required to discard/cancel changes. This is because the application supports some level of multi-tasking, so clicking another link without saving the current page will cause the page to be stored in a pane containing unsaved pages.
What can be done to resolve this inconsistency? Are there better wordings for "make leader" and "remove leader status"?