Ron, I agree with your summary except for "More than four choices, use a select menu."
Surely it is better to show as many options as possible at the same time? Stating four as a reasonable limit seems a little low. Although with select inputs I would state "Selects with less than 5 options should be coded as radio buttons" it does not mean quite the same thing. If anyone has a little spare time I'd appreciate comments / corrections on a proposed set of "Accessible and usable form guidelines" I've compiled: http://www.websemantics.co.uk/tutorials/form_guidelines/ there's 17 of them so far. This has been a WIP since September. I'm hoping to gain further clarity from this discussion over how best to define radio inputs and boolean choices. mike 2k:)2 <marquee><blink> e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] site: http://www.webSemantics.co.uk </marquee></blink> -----Original Message----- From: Pringle, Ron [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 02 February 2005 15:00 To: '[email protected]' Subject: RE: [WSG] Default state of radio buttons. (Maybe OT?) > Radio button groups exist for precisely the situation where there is > one and only one option that must be chosen. That's how they have > always worked. John hit the nail on the head. If you come to a situation where you're attempting to use radio buttons and the above does not apply, then you need something other than radio buttons. Radio buttons are like on/off light switches. The light switch is either on or its off. 1. If you're in a situation where you want a default value checked, but want to allow the user to deselect it without inserting another value, use a check box. 2. If you want a default value checked, but want to allow the user to alternately choose a different value (up to four choices), then use a radio button. More than four choices, use a select menu. While it appears that the standards allow you to NOT assign a default value to a radio button set, I'd say this is non-intuitive from a user experience standpoint. Plus, a value will be chosen by the browser anyhow, if I'm reading the previous posts correctly. So in this specific situation, where the user is allowed to choose male, female or no answer, number 2 above seems to be the most applicable. And seeing as they are allowed to not specify gender, I would default to no answer. Even if they might have provided an answer and simply forgot to, you've signified that the answer is not important/relevant, so it shouldn't make any difference to you if they willingly chose to specify gender or not. HTH Regards, Ron ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ****************************************************** ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com ********************************************************************** ****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/ See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
