web app - Which is a good method for delete without confirmation?

I have read around a few places that confirmation messages are not the best way to go about warning users, it's best to let them do whatever they want but give them the option to go back. I thought this probably applies to deleting things a bit, since if you click the button you've decided you want the thing deleted and having to click to confirm is just an extra step (what percentage of users click 'no' on that confirmation screen I wonder...)

I'm working on a web app where the user is managing items in a list. Instead of having a confirmation when the when the user clicks delete, I'm contemplating a couple of different approaches:

1. 
   

   I was thinking the item goes grey and says [deleted] but there is an Undo button. Then after several seconds (maybe 6?) the list item fades out and the items below it move up. (I think it would be irritating to have them hang around still, because often people want to get rid of those deleted things and not have to have them hanging around.)

   
   


2. 
   

   The other approach I thought of having is a 'Recently deleted' section at the bottom from which things can be restored, and clear items out after a few days. And in that case have the items just remove from the list instantly. I'm worried in that case though that the link between the disappeared list item and the link at the bottom will not be obvious enough to be intuitive.

   
   

The list will likely have its own scrollbar, but it could get quite long.

Do either of these approaches sound reasonable? Is there a better way to avoid having a confirmation message? Or just I just keep the confirmation message?

Answer

If you're going to have an undo button, don't make it something that disappears after a few seconds. Put it there until the user takes some other action. The ideas of making the item grey and having a temporary list is good thinking, but rather than do that, why not just have a permanent "deleted items" list on a separate screen? That way I can always go there to see and undo things I've deleted. What's stopping you?

The thing about confirmation messages is that they were built because it was technically complicated to create undo for destructive actions like delete. So instead you were forced to warn users about things up front to prevent them from losing data. Today (and with the Web), things aren't as complicated, and you should be able to implement undo functionality relatively easily.

If you want an example, Gmail has been doing this since it launched. Delete a message and it vanishes from your inbox - but a message immediately pops up (as with any action) asking if you want to undo. If you take another action, that message vanishes, but you can still go to your Trash and see deleted messages for the past 30 days. I'd recommend following their example.