Designing Confirmation

The confirmation design pattern isn’t something to be taken lightly. If applied erroneously, or not at all, users may commit unintended havoc. 

Confirmations ask a user to verify whether they want to proceed or cancel a requested action. Confirmations are used for destructive actions, like deleting a photo album, or consequential actions, like publishing this article.

Confirmations are not always needed and can increase mistakes.

Good practice:

1. Present the action as a question in the header
2. Explain the outcome of the action in the body
3. Restate the action in the confirmation button

Avoid:

1. Ambiguous questions like “Are you sure?”
2. Non-descriptive body copy
3. Yes/No actions
4. “Cancel” can cause confusion. When committing a destructive action, like discarding changes, users may mistake “cancel” for the intended action instead of cancelling the confirmation dialogue.