[thelist] RE: checked vs. unchecked boxes

[Eike Pierstorff]

Greg Holmes schrieb:
> The fact remains, checkboxes *always* have a default
> state, whether you specify the default or not.  You 
> are choosing a default to present to the user, even if
> you don't think about it.  I wasn't the one making the
> blanket assertion about what the default should be.

Here in Germany preselecting checkboxes is, in most cases, illegal.
The theorie behind this is the law of cause and effect; if I fail to 
provide a cause (like selecting a checkbox) I do not expect any effect 
to take place. If a Website tries to have any effect on my mail account 
or bank account without me providing a cause this is considered spam or 
fraud respectively.

You may preselect checkboxes if you are sure that they do not have any 
effect on your visitors.

German legislation is, in this case, user-centric. It does not care 
about the default state of your checkboxes, it is supposed to protect 
the default state of your users



-- 
eike.pierstorff at dynamique.de
0179 133 60 44

"Führe mich nicht in Versuchung. Ich finde den Weg selber."