I think the analogy of "submitting a form" is perfectly reasonable to average folks. It's akin to giving a form to the receptionist at the doctor's office through the window:
1. You get form, and go fill it out
2. You bring back the form and hand it to the receptionist
3. You get a range of responses ranging from nothing to a helpful answer.
Sounds exactly like an HTML form to me.
Is this the sort of parallel you want your users thinking of? Probably not, but it's also not some arcane terminology only programmers use either.
Precisely. Everywhere you go in the real world, someone sends you a form to fill out and they tell you where to "submit" it. This is why Internet forms started off saying "submit" - because it makes sense.
It's still vague and doesn't tell the user what is DONE when you submit. "Save Changes" for settings, "Sign Up Now" for users joining a website, "Log In" to log into a website, "Reply" for replying to a comment ;-) Etc.
ew, no. For me at least "sign up now" implies starting the sign up process. I would think "complete registration" or "create account" or "finish and create account" would be much better than "sign up now" especially if you've previously used "sign up" wording.
Hitting the "Submit" button happens within a context.
The person just filled out a form. That form showed up in their web browser because they navigated to the page the form was on. Much of the time that navigation was the result of clicking on a descriptive link, like "Create an Account". The person filling out the form knows that they are completing a task that they started by filling out the form. Submit, as others have said here, is a perfectly logical name for the button (just like submitting a paper form to a real person).
You could try to make it more descriptive, but you run the risk of confusing the user with things like "Create Account". I agree with others here, that in some contexts, and for some users, rather than clarifying what is happening, you will confuse them into thinking the "Create Account" button starts the process over again at a blank form (rather than submitting the form they just filled out).
Also, it isn't like this is new technology. Anyone who has any significant amount of experience using the web in the last ten years (or more even) has filled out an HTML form, and a high percentage of those forms have submission buttons that read "Submit". Even non-technical users understand it. I can't think of a single case where a person has talked to me because they have been confused by a "Submit" button. And of the few people I can think of that might have trouble with an HTML form, renaming the submit button would do absolutely no good (because they are the type of people who are so afraid that they'll do something wrong on the computer and delete all the information in the known universe :-D )
(laughing to myself as I click the "reply" button -- I missed that part of your comment until after I noticed the button)
It may not be vague for a user who knows the current context, but I still think that using a descriptive verb is better than the generic 'submit'. For "Create Account" even "Create" would give some idea as to what will happen when the user presses the button.
I remember being impressed by the Mac HIG that said all dialogs should have buttons with a verb instead of the typical Windows "Ok"/"Cancel". It informs the user slightly more and, I think, reduces the likelihood of automatically clicking "Ok" as some interfaces effectively 'train' a user to do.
I really don't think that a pop-up window and a form have much in common from a UX perspective.
The fact is that pop-ups interrupt you with a nag, and the user's desire is to get rid of it as soon as possible (regardless of which action they actually want to take). Putting the text on the button itself speeds this process up, and reduces errors.
Submitting a form is a MUCH MUCH slower, and more thoughtful process. You can make a snark about replying quickly to a comment, but have you ever WATCHED a user deal with a message popup they've seen before? Blink and you'll miss the whole thing.
Even more importantly, most forms have only ONE button. I bet you could label it simply "Button" and a ton of your users would never even notice.
1. You get form, and go fill it out
2. You bring back the form and hand it to the receptionist
3. You get a range of responses ranging from nothing to a helpful answer.
Sounds exactly like an HTML form to me.
Is this the sort of parallel you want your users thinking of? Probably not, but it's also not some arcane terminology only programmers use either.
(edited for formatting)