An A/B test with two bad options will just lead to the least worst option but OP correctly points out that to design a new way of doing a checkbox etc. with no

An A/B test with two bad options will just lead to the least worst option but OP correctly points out that to design a new way of doing a checkbox etc. with no problem to solve is a dangerous exercise in vanity. In some cases these unecessary changes get put upon users potentially ruining muscle memory, overload people with sensory disorders and not achieving much more than a simple checkbox. I don't necessarily think we should never try for something better but it should be based on data. It should also recognise the physical metaphor that these controls were based on for a reason. Ask a question on a paper form and a checkbox is simple for cognitive load. That's why I get annoyed at these flat designs where buttons don't look like buttons and tabs don't look like tabs so you end up having to explore to use something that would be 100 times easier in a paper form. Using hover for feedback is perverse both because it requires you interact with controls to work out whether you can interact with them and secondly that it doesn't work instinctively (or at all) on touch devices.