Often I'll see a website, especially when registering or filling out a form that says something like "Please only use letters and numbers in this field" or "Please try again."
Please is a pleasantry and I suppose it could make wording sound more "natural" but in this context I don't find it helpful at all. In fact often when I see "please" in a validation message it's not an optional requirement. In that case even in spoken English the "please" is misleading and incorrect as it indicates that you should do something, while omitting the please turns the same phrase ("Use only letters and numbers in this field") turns it into a command, which is correct.
Is there a reason to use statements like these? Are some situations more appropriate than others? It seems fairly prevalent but strikes me as inappropriate interaction.
Answer
"Please" is common in short instructions, because the alternative sounds too brisk and bossy ("Save the file", "Click the button").
However, I don't like either form of instruction because they don't make clear how the action fits into the user's aims. Rather than an instruction like 'Choose a filename' or even 'Please choose a filename', I'm drawn instead to a third style of suggestion, like 'To save your file, provide a filename'.
I can think of two advantages to this:
Users who decide the action isn't worth the hassle can be sure they're not ignoring an unrelated task
Users feel compelled to perform the action because it's aligned with their goals
That said, I'm aware this third style can be a lot wordier than the other two. It also runs the risk of burying the vital command 'provide a filename' in a larger sentence. Still, I think it's always worth giving the user a reason to proceed, rather than barking out arbitrary commands.
No comments:
Post a Comment