You allude to an important point of distinction between the Cocoa Touch binary switch and the traditional form checkbox: The former is presumed instantaneously effective, while the latter may or may not require a form submission.
But then again, you'll never be able to perfectly replicate native iPhone UI in a browser. It's best to avoid creating that expectation with your users.
Am I the only one who has to think twice every time I see one of those controls; "does the text mean that it's currently off, or does it mean that sliding it over there will turn it off"?
This makes sense if there is a button labeled "off", but in this case the middle of the slider is unlabeled. The part you interact with (at least if the slider were a physical object) is different from the part that displays the state, which sidesteps this ambiguity in a pretty clever way.
What I see is a button with a grayed out text next to it that says "Off" (or even worse, just "O"). Maybe I'm just damaged from having tried to understand more or less broken GUIs the last twenty years and overthink it :P
Another thing that annoys me with them is that the buttony part doesn't really stand out as a button, I think part of my problem is that I actually interpret the button as the background - and then what I see is an empty space with a button labeled "Off" next to it.
Really? If anything, over the years the use of computers and standard UI's have trained us you to associate light-shades to OFF/inactive and bright-contrast or colour with active/ON.
Nope, and the worst one I remember offhand is the mute button on the Treo. Nothing worse than making a comment, looking at the phone, and not being able to tell if you were muted or not.
The parent said:
- well known things are good
- the iphone is well known
Relative to other technologies, it is not.
Also, changing the platform might require interface changes that are clearer and easier on that platform. I'm not saying iphone checkboxes are bad. I love them. But they stink when they aren't on the iphone. They even stink when they are on the iphone but in a web app.
The issue here is whether something from a new platform should be used on an old platform. No, if the tools aren't standard.
Note that new browsers and browser versions render checkboxes differently, which yields incremental changes over time.
Cargo cult is when you copy what something looks like, without it working like it should. Iphone-looking checkboxes not on an iphone fit that really well.
I apologize for not having a link to the words that have come out of the mouth of every designer I've worked with.
Additionally, the iPhone checkboxes were created because clicking checkboxes is hard to do with the iPhone interface, not because they're better than plain old checkboxes.
Just because Apple does it, doesn't mean it's the best way to do things all the time.
That's really confusing. A control that says what will happen when you click on it is a button. What you have there is a button that is trying to look like a switch.
I actually have your site open in a tab now (since last night), kind of funny that I noticed this post on HN and then your comment. I actually prefer your method over the others I found for one reason, it's only clickable, not dragable.
The only usability advantage over a regular checkbox would be if you could copy and paste the ON or OFF state. but this solution you end up with "option ONOFF" on the clip board.
here is my solution, done when he first announced this gadget.
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[ 0.70 ms ] story [ 49.6 ms ] threadI think that web apps that behave like embedded runtime applications are going to be more prevalent as time goes on.
However, I find it only works reliably with sliding, not touch-clicking. Which is interesting, given that clicking seems to be sufficient in Firefox.
Another thing that annoys me with them is that the buttony part doesn't really stand out as a button, I think part of my problem is that I actually interpret the button as the background - and then what I see is an empty space with a button labeled "Off" next to it.
I agree with the grandparent post. This feature trades usability for eye candy. Bad idea.
Now considering how widespread the iPhone/iPod are in use, I doubt many people would have trouble putting 2 and 2 together.
Relative to other technologies, it is not.
Also, changing the platform might require interface changes that are clearer and easier on that platform. I'm not saying iphone checkboxes are bad. I love them. But they stink when they aren't on the iphone. They even stink when they are on the iphone but in a web app.
The issue here is whether something from a new platform should be used on an old platform. No, if the tools aren't standard.
Note that new browsers and browser versions render checkboxes differently, which yields incremental changes over time.
But on a meta level, doesn't this feature strike you as a bit cargo-cult?
I apologize for not having a link to the words that have come out of the mouth of every designer I've worked with.
Just because Apple does it, doesn't mean it's the best way to do things all the time.
http://pastebin.me/
slightly confusing, but a checkbox didnt quite work either
http://labs.engageinteractive.co.uk/itoggle/
(Should work on your iphone too)
I realize the purpose of this one is for non-mobile web browsers, but just putting it out there. ;)
here is my solution, done when he first announced this gadget.
http://github.com/gcb/iphone-style-checkboxes
feel free to fork it and implement his new spify animation.