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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: [KDE Usability] Misuse of toggle buttons
From:       Matthew Woehlke <mw_triad () users ! sourceforge ! net>
Date:       2010-06-03 1:30:35
Message-ID: hu70jr$2av$1 () dough ! gmane ! org
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Aurélien Gâteau wrote:
> I finally decided to write about one of my UI pet peeves in KDE:
> misuse of toggle buttons.
> [snip]
> When should a toggle button be used? In my opinion not often. It is
> confusing to have two identical UI elements which behave differently:
> if a toggle button is not down, nothing distinguish it from a
> regular button, thus it's impossible for the user to predict the
> toggle button is going to behave differently.

Well, as you note, a toggle button is a checkbox with a different 
appearance. It should be used accordingly. And yes (as you also note) 
this means /do not change the text/ (and/or icon) depending on the state.

Personally, I can't think of any reasonable use for a toggle button 
except when it is a toolbar button. (For example, using them for text 
format - bold, italic, etc. - and text alignment is common.) Toggle 
buttons should IMHO not be allowed unless you can justify why you need 
your checkbox to look/act like a button.

> Another important guideline I would suggest for the use of toggle
> buttons is not to use verbs in their text: In my previous example,
> option 1 used verbs (Show/Hide Sidebar) because the button was
> performing an action. Option 2 on the other hand uses a noun (Sidebar)
> because the button does not perform an action, I think it can be
> considered like a modifiable view of the sidebar.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Again, I say treat it like a checkbox. I 
think our checkboxes usually use verbs, no? I suppose I am okay with 
allowing nouns, for conciseness or because it seems more clear, I'm just 
not sure I would go so far as to recommend avoiding verbs.

-- 
Matthew
Please do not quote my e-mail address unobfuscated in message bodies.
-- 
The phrase "less is more" takes on a whole new meaning if you think 
about standard Unix tools. -- Unknown

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