Confirmation Yes/No button pattern

Question

I have 2 questions. Can we ask the user in a confirmation dialog, "Do you really want to discard changes?" Is this the right way to ask?

Also, can the YES/NO options be replaced by Yes, I want to/No, I don't want to. The latter occupies more space though.

I am confused whether the YES/NO usage depends on the type of application we design. For example, if it is a bank app, simple YES/NO has to be used or if it is fancy gaming app, we can go with other option.

Any suggestions on this?

Answer 1

I like to label buttons with the action they perform where possible. In the dialogue you describe, I would try something like this:

Answer 2

You should keep the button labels as short as possible and they should be simple commands. So yes/no is better than long descriptions for each button. However, rather than yes/no, more descriptive commands like discard/keep are preferred.

The description should, instead, be placed in the text area of the dialog. Take this example from Microsoft's Dev Center:

As you can see, the buttons have simple and direct commands. If the user needs more information, that is provided by the text above the buttons.

You should also consider highlighting the default or primary action button, as discussed in this question. For example:

As you can see, this dialog gives a short description, and then even shorter commands for the user to interact with. It also highlights the primary action of the dialog.

To answer your other question, "Do you really want to discard changes?" is a perfectly fine way to prompt the user. Just be sure to also mention that discarding your changes will lose data, and can't be undone.