3

In which situation would it be better to use one or the other?

For example:

enter image description here

Vs:

enter image description here

2
  • 1
    Just discovered this interesting discussion on it: uxmovement.com/forms/…
    – Aphize_
    Jun 16, 2020 at 10:50
  • 2
    Honestly, this really depends on how good the design is. Yes, toggle buttons can be a really good alternative to checkboxes, but you need to make them look and feel right. It needs to be obvious which ones are selected, and very important that it is obvious you can select more than one. The easiest way to achieve that you ask? Make them look like checkboxes! :D
    – musefan
    Jun 16, 2020 at 12:47

4 Answers 4

3

Yes they are, also from an accessibility perspective.

If you need a larger target size, go with toggle buttons. It's also easier to arrange them in a horizontal space.

Checkboxes are more suitable for a vertical space and are a standard in forms.

1

It depends, but from my experience I would lean towards no. A toggle usually means on or off, not option 1 or option 2. If you label the toggle properly then it could work.

1

If the list of options is short and consistent (not going to change based on another variable), they can be a nice choice aesthetically.

Some real estate search sites use this approach for defining what type of property you want. When successfully done, it is usually treated a bit differently than a list of toggles.

Screenshot from real estate site where user selects property type

0

Wording is key. For example, assuming at least one selection is required, instead of:

Select the applicable categories

use

Select one or more applicable categories

The original text has only the plural "categories" to indicate that "more than one is allowed", which is (a) easy to miss and (b) there are so many systems which get this wrong (e.g., "category" when more than one is allowed or "categories" but actually only one is allowed at a time) that text which makes it 100% clear is a big improvement.

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