Is is ok to use Select/Deselect All here or better to shorten it to only select all. Would the users know that if they uncheck the "select all" checkbox. Everything will be disselected
asked May 16 '12 at 7:32
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1I don't know whether or not every user would intuitively know that clearing a "Select All" check box would clear all the subsidiary check boxes, but a few seconds of using the UI will show them that it does. – ChrisF May 16 '12 at 8:40
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related ux.stackexchange.com/questions/1382/… – Adrien Be Jun 12 '14 at 15:13
I think there are 2 possible confusions here:
- Putting two opposite labels (calls-to-action) on the same controller.
- Using a check-box controller for manipulating the UI rather then selecting multiple items, which is their intended purpose.
What I would do is make it a button (or a link if there's a more important button nearby). The button label (or link) should only be the available action: "Select All" if not all items are selected, and "Deselect All" otherwise.
download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups
Edit: after showing this answer to a co-league, I want to point out that if there are a lot of check-boxes, it's worth having both buttons/links available (it can be exhausting to deselect dozens of check-boxes manually).
answered May 16 '12 at 8:59
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I do like the idea of using a button rather than a checkbox for the (de)select all feature, however it can also work very nicely to use a checkbox. One idea, would be to simply help the user "visually identify" this special checkbox via styling (ie. a border surrounding the checkbox & its label), see how google mail does it i.imgur.com/DNBhp8x.png – Adrien Be Jun 12 '14 at 14:59
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Another note: your idea (a button vs a checkbox) to change a group of checkboxes states is used by
modernizr- but to toggle (inverts states) checkbox rather than to (de)select all. see i.imgur.com/Yzhxsbf.png or directly on modernizr.com/download – Adrien Be Jun 12 '14 at 16:02
