Personal crusade of mine, actually. You didn't explicitly say you're working on a web application, but assuming you are, the W3C provides these instructions...
http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#radio Radio buttons are like checkboxes except that when several share the same control name <http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#control-name>, they are mutually exclusive: when one is switched "on", all others with the same name are switched "off". The INPUT<http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/interact/forms.html#edef-INPUT>element is used to create a radio button control.If no radio button in a set sharing the same control name is initially "on", user agent behavior for choosing which control is initially "on" is undefined. *Note.* Since existing implementations handle this case differently, the current specification differs from RFC 1866 ([RFC1866]<http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/references.html#ref-RFC1866>section 8.1.2.4), which states: At all times, exactly one of the radio buttons in a set is checked. If none of the <INPUT> elements of a set of radio buttons specifies `CHECKED', then the user agent must check the first radio button of the set initially. Since user agent behavior differs, authors should ensure that in each set of radio buttons that one is initially "on". If you are hard up for screen real-estate, you could always use a drop-down selector, but I can't really say without knowing more about your situation. Best, Jon On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 6:56 PM, Alexandru Ionescu <[email protected]>wrote: > Emely, > > What you are suggesting is counterintuitive. Of course it can be > learned, but at what cost? > > Look at it the other way around: after learning/using your > application, people might try to replicate the same button behavior > with a classic array of radio buttons. Won't that be a bit > frustrating? > > Best of luck, > Alex > > Alex > > > . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > Posted from the new ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42900 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [email protected] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
