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by foz 1931 days ago
Having actions on the right is more natural - this is reinforced by the UX of mobile devices we all use every day. Tap and we flow forward, to go backwards, we go left.

Like spoken languages, the language of design changes over time, and what used to be normal can be quickly outdated (like the reset button on forms).

1 comments

A desktop computer is not a mobile device though; there are different sensibilities involved because pretty much everything is different. A lot of UX regressions from the last years come from this mistake.

What is more "natural" is a pointless discussion anyway IMO; I regret phrasing it like that and I wish I could edit it. As I said, the key is to put things where people's eyes and mouse cursor will go, and that's rarely a "jump" to an entirely different place on the screen (on mobile this problem exists less because the screens are small). While it doesn't matter too much on narrow forms (less of a jump), on wide forms it's a bigger issue (or if it's placed to the right of the form inputs take).

Having been conditioned on Windows since my childhood (like nearly every person out there), I would be very weirded out if the Submit button was on the left on a desktop.
Whichever is chosen, just make it visually distinct from the other buttons, and be consistent, and I'll be content (if not actually happy, depending on which one matches my opinion).