To Hang or not to hang... in the gutter.

[Juhan Sonin-2]

Should check boxes and radio buttons hang in the gutter (treated as bullets and
pull quotes) or be indented?

We're designing an open source survey/data collection engine and trying to nail
correct type and UI practice.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Juhan
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[Chauncey Wilson]

Hello Juhan,

In questionnaire design, there are several common layout options. Here
are the two that I prefer.

Layout option 1:

1.  Which one of these documents is most useful to you? (Check 1 answer)
     ___ User's Guide
     ___ Getting Started Manual
     ___ Reference Manual
     ___ Quick Lookup Card

Layout option 2:  This is my general preference.  I like to indent
response categories about 3 characters in from the beginning of the
question.  I think that this differentiates the response from the
question (if your responses are long, this approach clearly indicates
question versus response whereas Layout 1 might require just a bit
more cognitive effort.

1.  Which one of these documents is most useful to you? (Check 1 answer)
          ___ User's Guide
          ___ Getting Started Manual
          ___ Reference Manual
          ___ Quick Lookup Card


Dillman, who has the most comprehensive books on survey design and
discusses issues with questionnaire layout, uses these two approaches
in his examples.  Keeping the format consistent throughout is a key to
a clear visual language. You might also want to include one space
between the question and responses and 2 or 3 spaces between
questions. The example below has 2 spaces.

1.  Which one of these documents is most useful to you? (Check 1 answer)

          ___ User's Guide
          ___ Getting Started Manual
          ___ Reference Manual
          ___ Quick Lookup Card


2.  Which one of these documents is most useful to you? (Check 1 answer)

          ___ User's Guide
          ___ Getting Started Manual
          ___ Reference Manual
          ___ Quick Lookup Card


Dillman, D. A. (2007). Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design
method 2007 update with new internet, visual, and mixed-mode guide.
New York, NY: Wiley.


Chauncey

On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 6:06 PM,  <juhan@...> wrote:

> Should check boxes and radio buttons hang in the gutter (treated as bullets and
> pull quotes) or be indented?
>
> We're designing an open source survey/data collection engine and trying to nail
> correct type and UI practice.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Juhan
> ________________________________________________________________
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ....... discuss@...
> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
>

________________________________________________________________
Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
To post to this list ....... discuss@...
Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines
List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help