Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
Amen, Jessica! Can I share a little personal experience I had on this matter? One day I was researching interactions on a dating/social site. (Research, riiight.) No really I was. I was interested in their heavy use of DHTML. I'm happily married. (comes into story later) So I went to an area on their site where I intended to invite a couple friends to check it out. It used the Google Contacts lookup that seems to be getting more and more popular. So there I was with all 300 of my gmail contacts. Now, mistake number one: They redesigned the checkboxes to be a little more stylized. This made it unclear to whether or not an item was checked or not. Mistake number two: I had assumed they wouldn't default ALL contacts to send invites too. BUT THEY DID. I thought I had checked my 2 friends but really was un-checking them. I hit "Invite". Thinking I had only invited two, I had Invited nearly all contacts out of my Gmail account. I had to send a rather embarrassing apology so that nobody thought I was leaving my wife or looking for a mistress through a dating site. I am still a little ticked about it. In fact, I just may list the URL right now, right here: www.iminlikewithyou.com There I did it. Save your users. Do not default to "All". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26405 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
Hi Yann I would recommend having none of the options checked by default but including an "All" checkbox to simplify this selection, especially if there are more than 5 options. Having none of the options checked: - encourages the user to think about what they actually want - prevents accidental selection of an option if the user doesn't notice that an option is checked. Note that checking the "All" box on should check on all the other options and vice versa. Similarly, if the user checks "All" but then unchecks an option, "All" should be unchecked. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26405 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
I'm with Todd: "For radio buttons I would have one pre-selected only when I understand that most visitors select that choice; that becomes a kind of usability accommodation." I'd go a step further to suggest that this can be a usability issue on the delivery side, too, depending on your specific use. Leaving choices unselected by default helps assure that all users have actually selected an option in all cases, rather than overlooking and accepting a default option that may lead you to misinterpret whatever data you're gathering. As Todd suggests, it also depends whether you want people to choose or whether you want to want to lead them. I may not be a typical user, but I immediately discredit any app that appears to give me a choice but pushes me -- however gently -- in one direction. Many online polls, for example, have such simplistic choices as to be completely trivial and irrelevant. I won't waste my time with them, and I can spot them in microseconds. So the next question may be (depending on specifics of intent), how important is credibility? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26405 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
If you follow the rule of "radio buttons are fro single choices in a set and Checkboxes are for multiple choices in a set" then the problem becomes simpler. The only time I would have "choices" pre-selected were if I had a business imperative to drive people toward a particular choice. All checkboxes checked would be because I want visitors to have All the selections. That's the "opt out" choice and goes against permission marketing concepts. For radio buttons I would have one pre-selected only when I understand that most visitors select that choice; that becomes a kind of usability accomodation. Todd O'Neill San Antonio, TX Doing Media blog http://www.doingmedia.net [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
> Is it better to use a "All" choice selected by default in a set of > checkboxes or to leave all of them unselected in order to include all > the choces. It depends. Having "All" selected by default has the potential to require the user to perform extra steps in order to complete the task in a manner of their choosing if they in fact do not want "All" selected. Try to identify what the user most likely wants. That said, there may be business requirements around an interface like this. Just look to the frequently lambasted import contacts/send invitation interfaces on many websites today. After importing your contacts, often times every contact is selected by default. Annoying, yes, and the cause of many accidental invitations, but some businesses would rather run the risk of aggravating some people in order to increase their subscriber base. Regardless of whether all options are selected or deselected by default, it's certainly not a bad idea to have a one-click select all/deselect all toggle if you have more than a few options available. jason 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
Yann-- Oops, I misread your question. You said checkboxes, not radio buttons. In a set of checkboxes, where checking a box means "this option is selected", the standard way to show that all options are selected is to check all the boxes. If you wish, you can place a button adjacent to the group that checks (or unchecks) them all for you in one operation. If having any one box checked means "this option is selected" then it would be absolutely wrong to make no-boxes-selected mean all-options-selected. --Bill >HI, > >I need some help about the right default value in a set of checkboxes... > >Is it better to use a "All" choice selected by default in a set of >checkboxes or to leave all of them unselected in order to include all the >choces. -- == Bill Fernandez * User Interface Architect * Bill Fernandez Design (505) 346-3080 * bf_list1 AT billfernandez DOT com * http://billfernandez.com == 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
Yann-- I hate trap doors in UIs, meaning actions you take that lead you to a new state from which you can not easily (or ever) revert. Therefore I hate radio button groups in which initially no button is selected (typically representing an "all" or "none" state), but once you select a button you can never return to the no-button-selected state. So I absolutely recommend, and indeed implore, you to include an initially-selected "all" or "none" radio button, as appropriate. --Bill At 4:58 PM +0100 2/23/08, Yann Allin wrote: >HI, > >I need some help about the right default value in a set of checkboxes... > >Is it better to use a "All" choice selected by default in a set of >checkboxes or to leave all of them unselected in order to include all the >choces. > >Thanks for you answer, > >Yann -- == Bill Fernandez * User Interface Architect * Bill Fernandez Design (505) 346-3080 * bf_list1 AT billfernandez DOT com * http://billfernandez.com == 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
[IxDA Discuss] Default value in chekbox
HI, I need some help about the right default value in a set of checkboxes... Is it better to use a "All" choice selected by default in a set of checkboxes or to leave all of them unselected in order to include all the choces. Thanks for you answer, Yann 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
