4 ms·
To me, the semantic difference between the two is that I expect a toggle to cause an immediate effect whereas a checkbox merely holds the value to be applied la
by lgreiv 4y ago
To me, the semantic difference between the two is that I expect a toggle to cause an immediate effect whereas a checkbox merely holds the value to be applied later.
Applied to a client/server web application, I would expect a toggle to immediately cause a request to the backend. I’d expect a checkbox to be used in a form which is sent as a whole on submit.
- ilyt 4y agoI'd expect it to work on submission only if I saw actual submit button, regardless of what else is in config. I also strongly dislike apps that do the instant thing, coz there is no way to undo something if I made a mistake (say removed some value that I shouldn't)
- crazygringo 4y agoThis is exactly it, 100%. But it's taken some time for UX paradigms to coalesce around this -- simply because checkboxes used to be used for both, until Apple "invented" toggles for instantly-applied settings in iOS. Now that Apple finally implemented toggles in System Settings in macOS Ventura, the paradigm is largely consistent in desktop software on Macs. Toggles apply a setting instantly, while checkboxes are used within an "OK/Cancel" dialog. But I think because it's taken so long for toggles to "spread", a lot of users and developers have an instinctual understanding that toggle = instant, but haven't always been able to articulate it.
- jayd16 4y agoWhat is your expected UX for a toggle with poor network reliability?
- lgreiv 4y agoI have seen several variations that I found consistent with the metaphor of a switch. Broadly, these could be divided in implementations that offered a loading state (switch goes transparent until persisted, overlaid spinner etc.) and implementations that flicked the switch back when the request failed and provided a very noticeable status update (hint, animation, growl). My preference for systems that work with unreliable persistence is the former, albeit that is purely personal and not founded in a deeper rationale.
- rhn_mk1 4y agoI don't have that expectation. What caused you to have it?
- l- 4y agoStoring the mechanical action is an added expense. Pure Latin character based mark additions (& reversals) could include o -> p, or q along with font dependent n to m, V to W, F to E; l or I to B, D, E, F, H, K, L, M, P, t or T.
- everybodyknows 4y agoExactly. Push-on/push-off switches -- analogous to a checkbox -- have been popular for decades and remain so. https://www.allelectronics.com/item/pb-173/spdt-on/off-pushbutton-switch/1.html https://www.allelectronics.com/item/pb-173/spdt-on/off-pushb...
- SSLy 4y agoIt's cultural, check boxes come from boring and usually not greatly designed universe of Windows and Linux desktops, toggles come from immediacy of iOS devices.
- alxlaz 4y agoI know I'm old but I still see light switches all around me. Doesn't anyone flip them anymore? It's cultural but this has nothing to do with Windows, Linux, and iOS. You flip a switch, the light comes on immediately. This is about the immediacy of switches, not iOS devices.
- hgsgm 4y agoNo, we use apps to control lights now.
- em500 4y agoI'm guessing that historically toggle switches would (immediately) close some electric circuit, whereas checkboxes were used to mark things as done on some paper list.
- berkut 4y agoWhile I think that's somewhat true to a degree, I think that might be largely because where checkboxes are used (on desktop), there are normally OK or Apply buttons which do the actual action, whereas where toggles are used, things are normally "live", and so they don't have OK or Apply buttons...