Question

I have an application settings page with a bunch of checkboxes. How should I choose the default checked state of the checkboxes?

I see the following options:

1. Always set the default state to unchecked, but this leads to negative statements in the checkbox text (like “Don’t automatically show due schedules”), which is sometimes hard to understand.

2. Always phrase the checkbox text to have a positive meaning (like “Automatically show due schedules”), but this leads to inconsistent default checkbox states, both checked and unchecked.

3. … any other options?

Any guidelines, best-practices, advices for this problem?

Answer 1

These are my “rules” for this:

• Make all statements “positive” so ‘Automatically show due schedules’ rather than ‘Dont automatically show due schedules’
• Make the default configuration whatever it needs to be for the majority use case, even if it looks like you’ve scattered ticks and non-ticks across your configuration screen
• Group related settings together, be it with “fieldset”/”group” elements or tabs
• Use the best UI element for the job. For example: Tri-state check boxes aren’t particularly intuitive and providing a drop-down or set of three radio buttons is more approchable for those less technically inclined

So – Option 2 from your list =)