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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: What happened with checkbox?
From:       Aurélien_Gâteau <agateau () kde ! org>
Date:       2009-06-18 8:09:59
Message-ID: 4A39F657.2000607 () kde ! org
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Maciej Pilichowski wrote:

> Two issues:
> 1) uniform look, either this or that, not both, in result it is just a 
> mess (Akregator uses first form, system settings uses the second), at 
> the end user is simply punished because she/he has to do more 
> visual "parsing" and checking and rechecking if anything wasn't 
> missed -- this is wrong, time (productivity) matters
> 
> 2) I opt for 
> [ ] label
> form, because of:
> a) backward compatibility (users are already used to this)
> b) preventing small element (box) to be buried somewhere in the form 
> and lost from the eye-sight

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Additionally, having checkboxes to the
right of the label is bad because:
- The click area is much smaller since you can't click the label to
toggle the check.
- It is inconsistent with checkable list view. Have a look at system
tray settings for an example: "Information" page has checkboxes on the
right, "Auto Hide" page has checkboxes on the left and a checkable list
view.

I think the decision to move labels to the left was taken to achieve
consistency with other widgets in a dialog: when you have a lineedit or
combobox, the label is on the left, and the widget is on the right.
Something like this:

   Select from this: [_______|v]
        Insert text: [________________]

And it looks ugly if you want your configuration dialog to start with
check boxes:

                     [x] An option
                     [ ] Another one
   Select from this: [_______|v]
        Insert text: [________________]


I would like to suggest an alternative proposal for the HIG:

When using checkboxes, Make sure you have a title label in front of
them. Something like this:

         Some title: [x] An option
                     [ ] Another one
   Select from this: [_______|v]
        Insert text: [________________]

This way the checkbox label is again part of the widget.

To take a more concrete example, the "Information" page of the system
tray settings, which currently looks like this,

*Pop up notices*
    Application notifications [ ]
File transfers and other jobs [ ]

*Icons*
           Application status [x]
               Communications [x]
              System services [ ]
             Hardware control [ ]


could be reworked like this:

Pop up notices: [x] Application notifications
                [ ] File transfers and other jobs

         Icons: [x] Application status
                [x] Communications
                [ ] System services
                [ ] Hardware control

Aurélien
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