{"id":222,"date":"2009-01-23T05:18:27","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T10:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/23\/never-submit\/"},"modified":"2009-02-02T11:14:24","modified_gmt":"2009-02-02T16:14:24","slug":"never-submit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/23\/never-submit\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Submit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submit is always the wrong title for a button.<\/strong> Yet it’s still commonly used, even by people who should know better. I had “Submit Comment” buttons on my blog when I first published this.<\/p>\n

Buttons should say what happens when they are pushed, in the vocabulary of the person pressing them<\/em>. Technically a button might submit a form to a server, but what matters is the consequence of submitting the form.<\/p>\n

For example, <\/p>\n

\n\"Picture <\/div>\n

this button should be called “Search” or “Find” or “See Matches” — something that describes what happens when it is pressed, or what the operator will see after pressing it.<\/p>\n

That’s a Bad Word<\/h3>\n

“Submit” has negative connotations, and should be avoided.<\/strong> The first three example usages (in Mac OS X’s Dictionary.app) are all negative,<\/p>\n

submit<\/strong><\/p>\n

verb
\n1 [ intrans. ] accept or yield to a superior force or to the authority or will of another person : the original settlers were forced to submit<\/strong> to Bulgarian rule.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 ( submit oneself) consent to undergo a certain treatment : he submitted<\/strong> himself to a body search.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 [ trans. ] subject to a particular process, treatment, or condition : samples submitted<\/strong> to low pressure.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Say an apartment takes applications on their website. It would be pedantically correct to say “Submit Application”. But it is more respectful to say “Send Application”, or “Apply”. Pressing a “Submit” button implicitly says “I submit”. And that’s the wrong relationship for a user to have to an interface.<\/p>\n

Blame The Programmers (Not Really)<\/h3>\n

One reason so many buttons are labeled “Submit” is that the HTML code for making a button has the word “submit” in it. The code for is <input type=\"submit\" value=\"This Button\"><\/code>.<\/p>\n

If the keyword send<\/code> was used to build buttons, I would argue that the web would be a slightly less intimidating place today. A button that demands you “send” something is better then a button that forces you to “submit”.<\/p>\n

Choose Your Words Carefully…<\/h3>\n

So perhaps, when choosing programming terms, we should pick the ones with the fewest negative connotations, since inevitably some of those words will bleed over into user-land.<\/strong> Even if programmer words stay in programmer-land, word-choice influences the way we think about things. Best not to encourage berating your users and customers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course, you shouldn’t go overboard avoiding “ungood” words<\/a>! There is no question that the most clear term should be used (even if it’s offensive<\/a>). A better programming-vocabulary means better, less buggy, programs. And that’s better for users (no matter what they are called behind their back). But if possible, avoid disparaging words.<\/p>\n

And never submit to the temptation of calling a button “Submit”. There’s always a more accurate, respectful name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submit is always the wrong title for a button. Yet it’s still commonly used, even by people who should know better. I had “Submit Comment” buttons on my blog when I first published this. Buttons should say what happens when they are pushed, in the vocabulary of the person pressing them. Technically a button might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12,4,8],"tags":[170,328,81],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bug-bite","category-design","category-programming","category-usability","tag-diction","tag-html","tag-internet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vgable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}