UX Design Question: Should a multi step wizard save the form contents when the user clicks 'go back'
- by Ashwin Prabhu
I am developing a web application that collects data over multiple steps through a wizard. Steps are generally not interdependent, in that data input at each step has little or no effect on the consequent steps. However each step may have a set of validations which determine whether the user can progress to the next step by clicking 'continue'
What should be the behavior when the user clicks previous?
a Quickly move to the previous page, thus losing all the unsaved data in the form. Prompting the user with a warning is an option, but it can become irritating quite soon.
b Move to the previous page saving all the data in the current step - without triggering validations, so that when the user comes back she sees the form in the same state that she left it in.
c any other behaviour
All opinions are welcome :)