Designing an interface for an android app, I stumbled upon a paradox and I'm a bit confused about what to do and why to do.
Context
User wants to delete his/her post's comments.
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Is there any other action the user can take apart from deleting?If so where are you positioning it?– Prasanna AarthiApr 11, 2014 at 11:42
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No, user can delete post or close pop over. Closing pop over refers "not delete this post" @PrasannaAarthi– Miss_ludwigApr 11, 2014 at 12:22
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The below answer is just perfect then!!– Prasanna AarthiApr 11, 2014 at 12:51
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1 Answer
The button to initiate the delete of an item can be an icon. After clicking this it is considered good practice for irreversible actions have a confirmation / cancel option as either a screen or a little inline control (depending on the magnitude of the delete). At this point the user needs more reassurance of what exactly will happen. They must have confidence that the button they click will have the desired effect. Text is better in this scenario, but you don't have to rely on it alone. You can add some additional visual affordance on which is the primary or secondary action.
Since your delete is an irreversible action, it should have less visual weight than cancel.
Giving the irreversible action the most visual weight is dangerous. When you do this, the user can easily mistake the irreversible action as a safe action and mistakenly click it. When it comes to tasks such as permanent data deletion, completing the task quickly is not the important thing. What’s important is choosing the correct action in the task so that the user won’t later regret their actions later on. (From this article.)
answered Apr 11, 2014 at 9:48
