[development] APC and Web Networks Release Drupal Usability Report

[Neil Drumm]

Andre Molnar wrote:
> APC and Web Networks Release Drupal Usability Report
> http://drupal.org/node/83806

Is there an HTML version? That is often easier to work with.


 From the report: "Binary options should use two radio buttons, one for 
each of the states."

 From Nielson's Alertbox: "A stand-alone checkbox is used for a single 
option that the user can turn on or off" 
(http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040927.html).

I wasn't able to find anything relating to this at the cited source of 
research-based usability guidelines at 
http://usability.gov/pdfs/chapter13.pdf.

Nielson cites Inside Macintosh (1984) and "all subsequent GUI standards 
and the official W3C Web standards..." (not the best citation)

I think the current Apple Human Interface Guidelines say it best, "Use 
checkboxes to indicate one or more options that must be either on or 
off. Each checkbox label should clearly imply two opposite states so 
it’s clear what happens when the box is checked or unchecked. If you 
can’t find an unambiguous label, consider using radio buttons so you can 
clarify the states with two different labels." 
(http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGControls/chapter_18_section_3.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000359-TPXREF198)

This says a hybrid should be used. If there is an unambiguous checkbox 
label, then use a checkbox. Otherwise, use radio buttons to increase the 
amount of space for labels from one to three lines.


This is good work. It would have been nice to know this was coming 
before it was finished. Perhaps http://groups.drupal.org/usability would 
be a good place to notify interested people and collaborate before the 
final release of such documents in the future.

-- 
Neil Drumm
http://delocalizedham.com/