using checkbox as radio button

Question

Hi,

I am looking for a way for users to select one of the two options (strength or weakness) for a list of qualities.

for eg:

                   strength     weakness  not applicable
1. Communication 
2. Punctuality
   ...

Radio button lets me select either a strength or weakness. However, I want the user to check only those qualities that apply and if a user accidentally selects a quality there is no way to undo the selection for a radio button unless there is a third radio button called not applicable or have the user re-enter the page. I was wondering if there is a way to be able to get the flexibility of a checkbox (check / uncheck) in addition to disabling or enabling the other checkbox when one of them is checked or unchecked instead of using three radio buttons.

I don't think I have seen this behavior before so wondering if there is a more elegant way of doing this. I am open to other ideas to get the same functionality. Using a checkbox as radio button was just a thought.

thanks much.

Answer 1

You should not use checkboxes as radio buttons (or vice-versa): this is inconsistent with the user's mental model, so it confuses people.

This is a problem with no ideal solution, but your initial suggestion of having a "not applicable" option as part of a group of 3 radio buttons is fairly common. If you pre-select the "not applicable" option by default and perhaps de-emphasize it visually (eg. gray it out) then from the user's point of view it will be almost as if there are only 2 options, but they can recover if they accidentally select one and want to "unselect" it.