It seems like a good rule of thumb would be that whenever you're tempted to use the word "enabled", to use a switch instead.
Connor On Jul 4, 2012 11:49 AM, "Philipp Wendler" <ubu...@philippwendler.de> wrote: > > Hello, > > Am 04.07.2012 18:21, schrieb Matthew Paul Thomas: > > Thorsten Wilms wrote on 07/06/12 11:59: > > >> If all you have to communicate is On/Off, what is wrong with > >> checkboxes? They do have unclear target areas (in proper > >> implementations, the label is clickable, too), but are well > >> established and do not suffer from the problems switches have, as > >> listed above. > > > > Good question. > > > > For some kinds of boolean setting, a checkbox feels too feeble to > > control it -- it leaves you unsure whether it is actually turned on or > > off right now. In the past, a pair of radio buttons, "On" and "Off", > > was sometimes used to solve this. A switch control does the same job, > > in a more compact and reassuring way. > > Really? > Personally I absolutely feel the opposite. > For a check box it is totally clear, whether it is on or off: > Check mark is there -> on; check mark is missing -> on. > Everybody knows this, because even paper forms follow the same principle > (empty box vs. filled box), and radio buttons do so, too. > > On the other side, I've always found switches totally confusing since > they have appeared in GUIs, and I'm still unsure about their state > everytime I see one. > I never know whether the word written on it tells me the current state, > or the state that would be activated if I click it. I do confuse this > because a switch looks much more like a button than a plain text label, > and buttons are always labeled with their action, whereas labels are > used to show state to the user. > So why is this principle suddenly inverted for switches? > If I use the mouse to drag the switch, it becomes worse: I have to drag > the switch into the direction of the word "Off" in order to turn it on! > This is the complete opposite of how (labeled) switches work in real life. > > The only thing saving me with the current Ubuntu switches is their color > change. As soon as I see the highlighted color in one of their states, I > know this is the "on" state, and the other has to be the "off" state. > But if the switch is "off" when I see it, there is no indication that it > would change color, and so there is no indication that it is actually off. > > In the end, I always try the switches out to find out in which state > they are. For check boxes, I did this exactly once at the first time I > sat in front of a computer, and I never had to learn this again after > theme-changes, OS changes, or for new GUI toolkits. > > > Most boolean options either don't need that level of solidity, or > > can't be labelled briefly enough for a switch, or both. They should > > continue using checkboxes/checkmarks, or a pair of radio buttons/radio > > items. "Show Time in Menu Bar", "Record file and application usage", > > "In the clock, show: [/] Date and month", and so on. > > Then why use switches at all? > If a checkbox is a good representation for most boolean options, why not > for all? > Why irritate the user with different input methods for the same type of > question? > For example in the "Brightness and Lock" settings page, there are a > switch and a checkbox almost directly next to each other. > What's the advantage of this for the user? > > > I would really like to have switches abolished completely again. Please > do not follow Apple's path blindly and use switches just because they > are now cool. > Although I don't have numbers, I am pretty sure that checkboxes would be > at least as good for the users, if not even better (for me they would be!). > > If you think the problem is their small target size, their size could > probably be adjusted to be as large as that of a switch (at least in > height). > > Greetings, Philipp > > -- > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~unity-design > Post to : unity-design@lists.launchpad.net > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~unity-design > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
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