Do You Need the Save Button as a Security Blanket?

Do You Need the Save Button as a Security Blanket?

Posted on 03. Jan, 2012 by in Release, SIS

Like Computers We Run on Auto Pilot

THIRTY TWO. That is the number of times I attempted to turn on the lights in my house when the power went out back in November. I can’t be the only one who does that. You know the power is out. Yet when you walk into the room you flick the switch instinctively. Then you make some sort of comment to yourself. (I made a growling noise).

I have the same auto pilot experience on screens that automatically save. I know it’s saving, yet I find myself struggling to find the save button anyway. Where is that button?!?

Requests for Auto-Save in Grade Book

The latest results from the usability test show a large number of users want the Grade Book to conduct auto saves. Auto save would save the recorded grades on the Grade Book screen without teachers clicking the save button.

However, it made me think, if we add an auto save to the Grade Book (which I think is a great idea), should we remove the save button? Or should we leave the save button as a security blanket for the users like me who like to flick the switch themselves? What do you think?

 

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14 Responses to “Do You Need the Save Button as a Security Blanket?”

  1. Carol

    03. Jan, 2012

    Keep the save button. It’s a safety net to ensure ALL changed data is saved. Auto-save may miss one last second change.

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  2. Jim Robb

    03. Jan, 2012

    I would say Auto Save is a great idea, but people like to click Save for that secure feeling.

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  3. Kathy

    03. Jan, 2012

    Keep the save button. I love the idea of auto-save, but I would keep the save button also.

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  4. Blake Skidmore

    03. Jan, 2012

    I think the Auto-Save is a must have feature. I think the save button could become something of the past, and slowly fade it out. Initially it will need to remain.

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  5. Scott McCambley

    03. Jan, 2012

    The biggest beef I have with the WH interface is the physical location of the edit & save, save&exit buttons being only available on the extreme righthand side of the interface.

    In many cases this requires you to hunt and peck each time you want to do something especially when you work from a laptop and resize your active windows often. A rethink on actionable links is more important than the ability to autosave

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  6. Jennifer Carello

    03. Jan, 2012

    Definitely keep the save button. We are not entering grades, the teachers are. And the teachers NEED the save button. They don’t ever “assume” their students have learned the assignment, (if they are a good teacher) and they don’t “assume” that their data has been saved unless they click save.

    If you remove it, and one day they forget to enter their data or some other thing happens that is their own fault, we, the IT department, or the system, will be blamed for the problem since there would be no save button.

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  7. Mark Sargent, Product Owner

    03. Jan, 2012

    Thank you all very much for the feedback. I think that initially we would want to leave the ‘Save’ button there for those users who may or may not “trust” the auto-save feature.

    I know having used applications that do the auto-save I am always fearful of leaving without having something to click. Perhaps in a future release, we could make the ‘Save’ button go away but I think upon first release of the auto-save functionality within the Grade Book you will still have that button.

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  8. Ed Gaffney

    03. Jan, 2012

    Keep the Save button, please! Autosave will be great, but most of our teachers will want a Save button as well.

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  9. Hans Mundahl

    03. Jan, 2012

    Loose the save button IMHO one less click is always good.

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  10. Gary Henning

    03. Jan, 2012

    My teachers would like to keep the save button to feel secure the grades are saved.

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  11. Ed

    04. Jan, 2012

    Grade book is more 21st century, and teacher friendly without a save. I hope as we move forward and web apps become more like local apps, that the save button disappears from other modules as well.

    For those who want to keep the security of a save button, keep it but make it a school level option (on or off for the entire school level).

    Reply to this comment

  12. Basil Kolani

    05. Jan, 2012

    As long as there is some indicator that an autosave is happening, the save button is unnecessary.

    Reply to this comment

  13. Mark Sargent, Product Owner

    06. Jan, 2012

    Thank you everybody for the these wonderful responses! It appears that we are sort of split right down the middle (which makes this conversation great) for displaying the save button or not displaying the save button. I think that for the first iteration we will most likely employ an autosave feature but leave the save button (at least for now), so that the users will have some comfort after they have entered a ton of grades and be able to physically click a ‘save’ button.

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  14. Travis Warren

    15. Jan, 2012

    oh no, not another option ;-)

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