Re: dropdown selections: default values or no?

I'd like to second what Claudia states and throw in some pretty decent
information from (of all people) Jakob:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040927.html

--Russ


On Thu, May 31, 2007 10:21 am, Claudia Alden Case wrote:
> Jacob,
> I disagree with your suggestion of leaving none of the radio buttons on.
>
> From a usability standpoint and by definition, radio buttons should always
> have one choice selected.  Otherwise, you break the metaphor.
>
> Radio buttons got their name from the physical buttons used on radios to
> select preset stations - when one of the buttons was pressed, it would pop
> out when another button was pushed in.
>
> c
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jacob Mattison
> Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 6:46 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: dropdown selections: default values or no?
>
> I like to use radio buttons for yes/no.  Typically radio buttons start
> out with neither checked; that can be your cue to prompt that the field
> is required.
>
> Jacob Mattison
> Web Developer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ACM SIGCHI WWW Human Factors (Open Discussion)
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
>
> 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?
>
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