To change checkbox text or to not change?

Question

Hi, I'm having an argument with a co-worker, and I'm trying to convince him that it's a bad idea to change checkbox text (label) according to the checkbox state.

For example, we have a combobox that automatically picks selected value (and is disabled) when checkbox next to it is checked and is enabled when checkbox is cleared. His idea is to show Autoselect when checkbox is checked and Manual select when it's cleared. I'm sure that this will confuse the user as users tend to think that checking a checkbox next to a verb will make it true, only to find that the label has changed to something else.

What is your opinion on this matter?

P.S. I remember reading about changing checkbox text somewhere, in a book or blog article, but can't remember where. It would be great to have this in writing :-)

Answer 1

Personnaly i would say that the label shouldn't change.

Answer 2

No need to mess with something that already works.

Changing the label would be horribly confusing and counter-intuitive, especially in the way you describe.

If the label describes the current state ("Manual select"), it will not be clear whether it is necessary to click on the checkbox to achieve the described state (like with a button), or whether it already is in that state.

A checkbox is a simple thing. When it is off, it does A. When it's on, it doesn't do A. The label needs to reflect what it does when it's turned on; it is then perfectly clear what doesn't happen when it is turned off.

Answer 3

The label definitely shouldn't change. It's not only confusing, but it's unnecessary and ugly.

The only way I can think to make it less confusing would be to have the label state in brackets the current state, i.e. "Manual(currently auto)[]".

But that's really just a testiment to how ugly it gets.

Don't mess with what people are used to. Especially when you consider that if you do this, one will always be shown WITH a checkmark, and the other WITHOUT. Really confusing.

In the name of compromise, you COULD use a button instead, which toggles the control back and forth, and changes its value with each click.

Current mode: [Manual]

Still kind of confusing though. As I said, don't mess with what people are used to. It's like if you put a scrollbar on the left of the screen. It'll just mess with peoples' heads.

Answer 4

From my experience changing the text is confusing, I have the same issue with modal buttons that change their text. It is hard to tell whether pushing the button will turn on the selected state or the text is the selected state.

Tick box text should not change.

Answer 5

Changing the text when the checkbox is checked changes the meaning. If it's checked and the label says Autoselect, I expect the Autoselect option to be enabled. If you uncheck, it's clear that the Autoselect option is NOT enabled. If you change the text to be Manual select whenever the checkbox is cleared I would expect that checking the box would enable the Manual select option. It's way too confusing if the text keeps changing.

You're right, he's wrong.

Answer 6

If you want to show that the choice is between "Auto select" and "Manual select" then you should either reword your checkbox label or have a radio button:

o Manual Select  
* Auto Select

Which isn't really ideal either.

But you shouldn't be changing the text on the label - the user won't remember what it was before and will be confused when it changes.

Answer 7

I would not change the checkbox label... I would have it say "automatic." But, depending on what your controls are actually doing, I might modify the selection in the grayed-out combo-box to reflect that it is now under automatic control.

Then to make the logic go both ways, if while the checkbox was unchecked, the user selected the "automatic" value in the combo-box, the checkbox would then become checked.

Or in another scenario:

If, when the "automatic" checkbox is checked, the automatic logic actually chooses a default value that is in the combo-box, then change the selection in the combo-box to show what the automatic setting actually is. The combo would not be editable, but it could be used to provide information about the actual setting that is being engaged.

Answer 8

Checkbox labels should not change. That's part of the way checkboxes work.

See Should “toggle buttons” show what they do or the system status? on UXExchange for an alterantive approach using toggle buttons instead of checkboxes.