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Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)

From: ben morrison
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 3:50AM
Subject: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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On 4/12/06, Christian Heilmann < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> Another cool benefit of labels is that
> they focus the element the label is associated with when you click
> them. This makes them dead handy with checkboxes, as users get a
> larger area to click on. What is so wrong about writing next to a form
> element what you are supposed to enter in it?

For us in the know this is why labels are great. We've just spent last
friday doing usability testing, watching 7 users on a site with eye
tracking technology (a great experience).

However, not one of them clicked on the label for checkboxes, radio or
inputs or used tab for that matter.

A while back I considered using

label {
cursor:hand;
}

so that it was a pointer that you could click on the label - but
people suggested that this could confuse people.

Thoughts? Would using JS rollover to highlight the area be of help?

Ben

From: Penny Roberts
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 4:40AM
Subject: Re: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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ben morrison wrote:

> However, not one of them clicked on the label for checkboxes, radio or
> inputs or used tab for that matter.

So they all homed in on the radio or checkbox itself rather than using
the larger area that the label afforded: do you think it was because
they didn't realise that they could or just because homing in seemed a
natural thing to do? Did any of the users have motor control problems?

Penny

From: ben morrison
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 4:50AM
Subject: Re: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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On 4/12/06, Penny Roberts < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> ben morrison wrote:
>
> > However, not one of them clicked on the label for checkboxes, radio or
> > inputs or used tab for that matter.
>
> So they all homed in on the radio or checkbox itself rather than using
> the larger area that the label afforded: do you think it was because
> they didn't realise that they could or just because homing in seemed a
> natural thing to do? Did any of the users have motor control problems?

I would say because they didnt know you could - the fact that labels
are becoming more widespread may change this, but I doubt people would
try clicking randomly on text... None of the users had motor control
problems... all were able bodied.

ben

From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 5:10AM
Subject: RE: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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> ben morrison

> However, not one of them clicked on the label for checkboxes, radio or
> inputs or used tab for that matter.
>
> A while back I considered using
>
> label {
> cursor:hand;
> }
>
> so that it was a pointer that you could click on the label - but
> people suggested that this could confuse people.
>
> Thoughts? Would using JS rollover to highlight the area be of help?

The devil's advocate in me thinks: the current behaviour (not giving any
particular hint that a label is in fact clickable) follows operating system
conventions (in Windows anyway - where labels for checkboxes etc are clickable
in dialog boxes and the like) as per UAAG.

P
________________________________
Patrick H. Lauke
Web Editor / University of Salford
http://www.salford.ac.uk
________________________________
Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force
http://webstandards.org/
________________________________

From: ben morrison
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 5:20AM
Subject: Re: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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On 4/12/06, Patrick Lauke < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> > However, not one of them clicked on the label for checkboxes, radio or
> > inputs or used tab for that matter.

> > so that it was a pointer that you could click on the label - but
> > people suggested that this could confuse people.
> >
> > Thoughts? Would using JS rollover to highlight the area be of help?
>
> The devil's advocate in me thinks: the current behaviour (not giving any
> particular hint that a label is in fact clickable) follows operating system
> conventions (in Windows anyway - where labels for checkboxes etc are clickable
> in dialog boxes and the like) as per UAAG.

But doesn't the web operate differently to operating stystem
conventions - you never get a hand pointer - unless you are clicking
URL, which is part of a web/multimedia convention. This is where we
say it should ony be for URLs....

For Fun: An amusing take on devils advocate
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/10/death_by_devils.html

ben

From: Tim Beadle
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 6:10AM
Subject: Re: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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On 12/04/06, ben morrison < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
> But doesn't the web operate differently to operating stystem
> conventions - you never get a hand pointer - unless you are clicking
> URL, which is part of a web/multimedia convention. This is where we
> say it should ony be for URLs....

Let's say we were to say "a hand should appear whenever something is
clickable". In that case, the web (browser implementation) as it
stands isn't even consistent with itself! Form buttons don't give you
a hand *by default*; only links do. As has been pointed out, though,
you can override the default behaviour with CSS. At the end of the
day, does a user care that one "clicky thing" is a link and the other
is a form button? No.

> For Fun: An amusing take on devils advocate
> http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/10/death_by_devils.html

Indeed. But I'm getting deja vu ;)

Tim

From: Patrick Lauke
Date: Wed, Apr 12 2006 7:10AM
Subject: RE: Clickable labels WAS: Adding a label to search box
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> ben morrison

> But doesn't the web operate differently to operating stystem
> conventions - you never get a hand pointer - unless you are clicking
> URL

Clickable URLs/links are not really present in the operating system,
though, whereas form elements certainly are, and it therefore makes
sense to at least keep that in consideration. Of course, from a
usability point of view, it may be worth somehow alerting the user
that clicking a label will have the effect of activating/focussing
the related form element, in case they haven't learned this already
from using their OS (although there may also be an argument that
they may not click the labels because the majority of websites
out there still don't use label elements properly, so they've given
up on even trying, despite maybe knowing about it in their OS).

P
________________________________
Patrick H. Lauke
Web Editor / University of Salford
http://www.salford.ac.uk
________________________________
Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force
http://webstandards.org/
________________________________