Esc button vs [x] close in popup

Question

In a modal popup , to close it we can have three option - Either a message at the top Esc to close or [x] or both. (Or depending on the message in the modal popup an ok or cancel.)

From my research I found out the following.

• Laptop users mostly do not use mouse and tend to use key board shortcuts for almost everything , and these people might use the Esc button.
• People who frequently uses mouse will adhere to it and would prefer to click on the close button to close the modal popup

Apart from these are there any points that favours the selection of either options?

Is it a good idea to use both at the same time? Are there any existing studies or guidelines regarding this?

Answer 1

I think that the best solution is to let both (esc and click on close button)

• Shortcuts are good for laptop user then Esc
• Novice users prefer to click on close button because they don't know shortcuts.

In case modal popup, you can add an other issue to exit the modal : Click outside of modal.

An example (Custom Dialog) https://material.angularjs.org/latest/#/demo/material.components.dialog

Answer 2

I agree that it's important to have both options and also the "click outside" of modal. But bear in mind that when the user is completing a task it is better to offer a CANCEL button and remove the click outside in order to avoid missing completion.