unity-design team mailing list archive

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 06/06/2012 10:28 PM, Hans Heintze wrote:

> The menu specifications for Quantal Quetzal include right-aligned toggle
> switches. I am concerned that the combination of left and right aligned
> menu items could make it very easy to accidentally trip over other menu
> indicators when trying to reach a toggle.

Independent of improving the menu mechanics, enabling/disabling could be 
handled differently in style and placement of the widgets.

I think the adoption of light-switch style widgets in point-and-click 
interfaces is a mistake. Their look imply a sliding movement, not just a 
click. They are unclear about whether the labels refer to the current 
state, or the state to change to (only the use of bright coloration for 
the On state helps here, but does nothing if all you see is an Off).

https://thorwil.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/unity_switches_01.png

If all you have to communicate is On/Off, what is wrong with checkboxes? 
They do have unclear target areas (in proper implementations, the label 
is clickable, too), but are well established and do not suffer from the 
problems switches have, as listed above.

In the middle: a different take on the switch widget, trying to do 
without separate label and state-labels. The state that can be switched 
to is represented by a button, while the current state is flat, as it is 
not clickable.

Finally an experiment, to see whether a strike-through approach could 
work for a very compact solution. It is hard to find a balance between 
legibility of the label and making the stroke clear.

(Also posted on 
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/switches-in-unity-menus/)


--
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/