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So I don't how to write literals for a feature that creates a password layer before allowing people into, say, a virtual meeting room. For now all I got is "Enable entry via passcode" or "Set passcode" but both don't seem to give enough context to the person setting it up that the passcode should be mandatory.
[✓] Require a password to view the broadcast: [ ••••• ]
Above, the [ ••••• ] represents a normal password input field like you have in your mockup.
If the checkbox is unchecked, the password field should still be visible, but it should be disabled (i.e. grayed out) and its contents should be cleared:
[ ] Require a password to view the broadcast: [ ]
First, I’ll note that this label’s terminology should be consistent with the rest of the app. My suggestion assumes your app has “broadcasts” with “viewers”. Adjust the wording as necessary if your app has, for example, “participants” instead.
Your latest wording “Ask for a password when people enter the broadcast” is much clearer than your earlier drafts. The remaining flaws I see:
Of course, the user can assume what the answers to those will be, and they are likely to be right, but having to guess would slow them down.
Changing “Ask for” to “Require” solves the second issue: it suggests that if the user enters the wrong password, they simply won’t be allowed to join. The label still doesn’t specify retry behavior, but assuming you will have multiple settings, I don’t think it’s worth making the settings dialog more complicated by explaining that. Without further explanation on retry behavior, I would assume that the viewer could try to enter the password again at least a few times.
When thinking about how to resolve the first issue, I considered “Require viewers to enter a password to view the broadcast”, but the repetition of “view” seemed to make the sentence unnecessarily complicated. That’s why I decided on “Require a password to view the broadcast”.
I think it’s better to have a colon at the end of the label than no punctuation. The colon hints that the text field contains something mentioned in the sentence – in this case, it’s the password. Combined with the password styling of the field and the context that these are settings for a single broadcast, I think the meaning of the field will be clear enough.
Why show the password field all the time, even when the checkbox is unchecked? So the user can anticipate that the password would be just a simple text password. It would also help the user navigate the interface faster when they check the checkbox, as the user could start moving their mouse towards the text field right away.
Don't provide a checkbox.
If it's mandatory build a "set passcode" data entry box into the workflow.
Triggering the set passcode process may be an optional button.
