How to handle an enormous list of checkboxes?

Question

I am working on some wireframes for a webportal. In a form in this webportal there is an enormous list (120 items) of options, and users have to go through (and read) all of them.

It's not possible to devide these options into catogories, and the length of the labels is very variable.

The goal of these wireframes I'm developing is to make this form a lot less stressful to go through, unfortunately I'm stuck with these checkboxes.

The best I came up with was a scrollable list like this one:

Answer 1

This is where UX is being tasked to fix something that isn't fixable at the UX level. I'd go as far to say this is where a back end system is unfairly asking a user to make decisions that they shouldn't have to.

If the issue is that people enter items they sell under a different name than what's already in the system, then the proper solution would be a smarter back end.

Option 1: Build a better back-end language parser

Let users input their items by typing them (perhaps keep the checklist for those that prefer that method).

As they type each item and hit return, the system should look up the item and check for both a) common mispellings and then b) look up synonyms in a table

So perhaps a user types in an item:

[ BOOZE    ]

Upon hitting return, you may see:

[          ]
• Alcohol (match for 'booze') 

Option 2: Duct tape

If improving the technology is out of your hands, about the best you can do is make a giant list of checkmarks less painful. I'd start by getting rid of any scrolling. Instead, make the selection of items a separate task with a page of it's own. List all of them on one page, perhaps in columns. I'd also add a filterable search at the top that, as a user types in the field, it reduces the checkboxes shown to only those that are matches. This can all be done client-side via Javascript.

Answer 2

I would try something like GMail tags.

You have a filter and the list of checkboxes inside a scroll area

Other good option is something like Pocket Chrome plugin

You have a filter and the selected items become a tag

Answer 3

I had to face same problem a few days ago, and came with this solution ! In my cases list weren't that long so I used a tag system so user can have a list of the items that he/she selected.

Answer 4

I think a side-by-side list widget would be appropriate for this situation. It goes by many names. See: Name for widget with side-by-side available/selected listboxes?

Also, you should provide a search box to dynamically filter the list of available items as the user types.