Re: dropdown selections: default values or no?

Just to go along with selection boxes with no default : 

I can understand the logic for the drop down lists, using "none" as a
default value, forcing the user to make a choice in the list.

But we have a similar problem with mandatory check boxes. The check box
has two states (yes/no).  How can we make sure the user meant really
"No" and didn't just forget to check the box?  Should we then use a drop
down for Yes, No and use "None" as a default value?

Currently, we propose a mixed state for the check box (check box in
green) when the user gets to our form.  The user then has to click once
to check the box and click a second time to uncheck it.  

Any proposition on how to treat mandatory check box with no default
value?

Anne Deputter
DLGL



-----Original Message-----
From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paola Kathuria
Sent: May-31-07 7:22 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: dropdown selections: default values or no?

Anastasia wrote:
> I have a client with a web app full of long forms. Many of the
selection
> boxes have been set to no default as the client wants the user to
> 'consciously' select a value. However it is also clear that in most of
> these cases there is an obvious default value that gets selected 80%
of
> the time (80/20 rule).
> 
> Any opinions/thoughts on this? I always opt in favor of efficiency,
but
> in this case the client wants to go the other direction....

I think your client's right. Otherwise, you can never be
sure that the user has seen the selection box and that
no-action = an implicit selection.

However, put the popular choices at the top of the list
and separate it from the rest with a line to save scrolling.

E.g., if it were a country list:

  <option value="">== Select country ==</option>
  <option value="GB">United Kingdom</option>
  <option value="US">United States</option>
  <option value="">-----------------------------</option>
  <option value="AL">Albania</option>
  <option value="AD">Andorra</option>
  <option value="AI">Anguilla</option>
  <option value="AR">Argentina</option>
  <option value="AM">Armenia</option>

etc.


Paola
--
http://www.paolability.com/

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