[whatwg] Add <input> "Switch" Type

[Jukka K. Korpela]

2013-11-19 16:25, Domenic Denicola wrote:

> From: whatwg-bounces at lists.whatwg.org [mailto:whatwg-
>
>> I agree that the look and feel is different from checkbox but all
>> the differences seem to be purely presentational. If you disagree,
>> you need to elaborate a bit more.
>
> Interestingly, Microsoft's Windows Store apps guidelines disagree. I
> find their reasoning somewhat compelling, although novel:
>
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465475.aspx
>
> "Use a toggle switch for binary settings when changes become
> effective immediately after the user changes them."
>
> "Use a checkbox when the user has to perform extra steps for changes
> to be effective."

 From the usability and accessibility point of view, this seems to 
address an important issue. Authors sometimes use checkboxes (or radio 
buttons) so that changing their state has an immediate effect, even 
submitting a form. This may violate normal user expectations and can be 
confusing. Normally, we enter some data, using various controls, and 
then click on a button (or do something equivalent) to request for an 
action. Checking a checkbox should not be a commitment, any more than 
typing text in a feedback form or selecting an item from a dropdown list 
in an order form should be a commitment.

This means that things that have immediate effect should be buttons, or 
something else recognized as action-triggering  control. So why not use 
a button? Maybe because a button does not normally have a visible state. 
A toggle switch would thus logically be a combination of a checkbox and 
a button: it has a direct effect, like a button, but it remains visible 
(or otherwise perceivable) in an on or off state, like a checkbox. And 
it should probably have a dual ARIA role: role="checkbox button".

But maybe this means looking at things in a too narrow perspective, as 
if controls were only used in forms that submit data to a server. A 
purely application-like page may conceivably have checkboxes and radio 
buttons that have immediate effects (say, so that in an image processing 
application, checking a checkbox immediately turns the image to 
grayscale). Checkboxes probably wouldn’t confuse a user who knows at all 
what he is using. On the other hand, toggles could be used, too. Maybe 
even better than checkboxes.

Yucca