[thelist] Accessibility/usability of "Select Option" at top of list

[Steven Streight]

Thanks for the clarification. But still, "Select Option" is lazy. It should
say "Select _______________", e.g., "Select Country" or "Select Version" or
"Select Search Type".

Here is a quote from Jakob Nielsens' alertbox "The Power of Defaults" at his
Use It site:

[QUOTE]

Defaults make two essential contributions to usability:

   - By showing a *representative value*, they serve as just-in-time
   instructions to help users understand how to complete a field.
   - By showing a *frequent value*, they help users understand the
   commonly expected response, as opposed to more atypical ones. You can use
   this knowledge for sales purposes -- for example, by pre-selecting the
   one-year option in a subscription interface that also offers monthly
   payments. But, if you consistently pick the most expensive option as the
   default, you'll lose credibility, so don't overdo it.

By educating and guiding users, default values help reduce errors. It's
therefore important to select helpful defaults, rather than those based on
the first letter of the alphabet or whatever the first option on your
original list happened to be.

[END QUOTE]

On 1/15/07, Julian Rickards <julian.rickards at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Just so that it is clear, I meant "Select option" as a generic phrase: at
> the top of a country list, "Select Country" or at the top of a spots list
> "Select favourite sport", etc.
>
> On 15/01/07, Steven Streight <steven.streight at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I am against pre-checked check boxes and I think it was on this
> discussion
> > list about a year or two ago that we debated it endlessly. If an option
> is
> > generally desired by the vast majority of users, you could have a
> default
> > option pre-checked. You see this done on email newsletters, where the
> HTML
> > version is normally the pre-selected option, and you have unselect it
> and
> > select Plain Text version if that's what you want.
> >
> > "Select Option" is rather dry wording. Better to be more casual and
> > friendly, like "Select HTML or Plain Text version".
> >
> > As I read your email more closely, you claim to have seen "Select
> Option"
> > as
> > first option in an options selection list? That's crazy. Why would
> anyone
> > do
> > that? Sounds very stupid at face value. "Select Option" is a headline,
> not
> > an option in itself.
> >
> >
> >
> > On 1/15/07, Russ <russ at unrealisticexpectations.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On many forms, we see something to the effect of "Select Option" as
> > the
> > > > first option in a select list. Does anyone see an accessibility or
> > > > usability
> > > > issues with having this "invalid" option?
> > >
> > > I think there are a couple of different approaches to it--from my
> stance
> > > on
> > > the work that I've done where these have been used, it has been better
> > to
> > > NOT provide a default value that could allow someone to easily be
> > > mis-categorized, but to instead utilize some method of error checking
> to
> > > ensure an option is actually selected, if that is a required value.
> > >
> > > --Russ
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > * * Please support the community that supports you.  * *
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate
> > Web Usability. Blog Revolution. Online Marketing.
> >
> >
> > http://www.vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com
> > --
> >
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>
>
>
> --
> Website: http://jrickards.ca
> Blog: http://pen-and-ink.ca
> E-mail: julian dot rickards at gmail dot com
> --
>
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>



-- 
Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate
Web Usability. Blog Revolution. Online Marketing.


http://www.vaspersthegrate.blogspot.com