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I'm actually working on a project done by another UX designer before me, and I have some doubts about the way users can save & cancel their actions on the page of new content creation.

This is a CMS backoffice. Users can create or modify a content and then chose between :

  • cancel
  • save and stay on the page (button by default)
  • save and back to the list of content
  • save and create another new content
  • have a preview

Also they can chose to stay online or not when they create or modify their content. When they save, if there are online, the content is published.

So here are my problems :

  • We can not save automatically because if users work in the online mode and make a mistake the auto save would published it online

  • I don't really like having one save button with 3 different choices (save and stay on page/save and create another new content/save and back to the list). Is that a good way to do ? I don't know how to make it better.

Here is an (ugly) sketch of this element (a bottom fixed tab-bar) :

enter image description here

I'm afraid that users miss the different saving possibilities and don't use it.

Thank you !

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  • 3
    Cancel? What does cancel do? If something is online, does it... cancel what's online? Or cancel what you've worked on? But if it's toggled onto online, then is it that everything that's being worked on is already live? But then if that's the case, why is there a save button? And wait, a preview for what's already online? Huh? All of these controls are kind of conflicting.
    – UXerUIer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 13:58
  • A toggle implies that the option chosen is always set. Thus online being active (I'm assuming) means to me that what ever is adjusted below is always going to be updated on the fly. So having a cancel button seems kind of contradictory to that toggle. Same with save. And preview seems redundant to what online does. Seems to me that online can do everything you want.
    – UXerUIer
    Dec 8, 2015 at 14:03

3 Answers 3

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Firstly, from your description, it sounds as though when your users click the button, they are not saving, they are publishing (which has the side effect of saving) - so the button should be labelled 'publish'.

Secondly, you are merging two decisions into one, when they should be kept separate - mainly for clarity, but also because more choices require more concentration.

At first the user should be presented with the decision to 'preview' or 'publish' (or 'cancel').

Once they have published, you can show them a dialog saying that their work has been published (feedback on their action) and asking what they would like to do next - stay, go back, or create new.

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  • Yes, right, good idea ! I didn't thought to ask them what they want to do after the feedback. Sounds good !
    – Léa Mendes Da Silva
    Dec 8, 2015 at 11:16
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This answer is inspired by Paul S above.

Here is WordPress's save / preview / publish widget

WordPress save options

Most CMSs and blogs have something similar.

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You should make functionality visible to the users. Also, these are shortcut commands that combine two actions in one click. If users have to make two clicks to access them, the benefit is lost.

Move the "Save & Back to List" and "Save & New" at the tool pallet. If space is an issue then use icons and mouse over tooltip.

Also consider removing the on-line mode switch. Even expert users make a lot of mistakes when mode is used. Maybe you can create three new buttons "Publish", "Publish & Back to List" and "Publish & New".

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