Question

I’m currently developing a wp7 app (don’t want to tell too much ;), but I’m struggling a little with the user interaction.

The main question, I’m not sure about is: Should I offer an explicit save button in dialogs and use the phone back button as cancel, or should I save implicit the time the user taps the phone back button …

The more I think about, the more I’m unsure about the best user experience.

I already read the user experience and interaction guide from Microsoft, but there isn’t any advice in there about that issue …

Thx alot for your suggestions.

Answer 1

On page 68 of the Windows Phone 7 UI Design and Interaction Guide it states:

Changes to Application Settings should be immediately implemented. This means that a “Done”, “OK”, or other confirming dialog is not neededd. In some cases, even though the change has happened immediately, the user may not have feedback that the change has occurred until an ongoing event is completed or a future event occurs. Examples would be joining a secure Wi-Fi network or changing the frequency of alarms.

Keeping Application Settings brief and clear should be a design goal. Complex, multi-page, multi-level Application Settings can frustrate or confuse users into thinking that they have entered another application entirely.

Although the same page also goes on to say:

Immediately implement user-selected Application Settings without a confirming dialog box and provide a feedback method to indicate that the change has occurred.

Avoid creating Application Settings that have more than 2 pages (screens). Settings that require more than a single screen should use overlying half screens to avoid losing context when
the SIP Keyboard is displayed.

If a task cannot be undone, always provide the user with an option to cancel. Text entry is an example. Actions that overwrite or delete data, or are irreversable must have a “Cancel” button.

When using additional screens with commit and cancel buttons, clicking those buttons should perform the associated action and return the user to the main settings screen.

To keep the heading of settings control panels consistent, the heading for the settings page should look as follows:

      SETTINGS
      <CPL Name/ Application Name>

Applications that fetch data over the network must have an option to disable data usage.

So, I think you only get in to questions over explicit vs. implicit if you have multiple pages for settings, and if you do it sounds like the explicit would be the way to go with sub-pages, but implicit for the initial page.