Save & Continue Button

Question

In the app I am working on the user is presented with a list of item on the left and a panel contained with input fields on the right. The user will navigate the list and edit pricing criteria for each item in the list. In order to make the process easier and smoother, I have been playing around with some different actions.

The first is having a Save and Cancel button so the user can save the data, and then have next and previous buttons to navigate the list.

The second is having a "Save & Continue", "Save", and "Cancel" button. This way the user can decide whether they just want to save the current item and remain viewing that item, or they can flow through the list by saving and continuing.

Is there anything wrong with having a "Save" and "Save & Continue" button?

Answer 1

Can you support auto save in this context?
As long as users don't experiment with the data it would smooth the process. Make it even faster by providing a key sequence for the next button. If that would work, you can just have a status indication immediately adjacent to a 'next item' button, like the pattern illustrated below.

If you need to allow undoing changes (in response to @DaveAlger's insightful comment), you'll want to include:
- an undo/cancel option for that particular form (toward the bottom)
- and (optionally) an undo for each field when a change has actually been made

Answer 2

The general approach tends to be "Save" and "Next". There's an implicit assumption that the wizard saves when you move onto the next step. You can probably make it more clear by showing a "saved" notification "toast" message on the screen.

To be clearer, consider the following set

"< Previous" "Save" "Next >"