Many User Settings give no indication of which is the active choice

Noticed this when I was looking for something else, and I'm not seeing anything about in this sub forum. There are a number of binary choices in the user settings which appear to be black or purple, but do not actually indicate which one is currently selected. (And the only 3 option choice I've seen users a different control scheme at the bottom of Followed Threads.)

Look at PM Settings for example.

Suggest updating this to a clear radio button, adding a "Setting is currently: X" string, or both, to improve clarity.

Purple indicates the active choice. What's the problem?

The problem is that it is ambiguous and horrible UI that doesn't clearly show which state the choice has been set to, and as such it ideally should be updated at the earliest convenience. It is a trivial flaw, but still a flaw.

Luckless wrote in post #17823436
The problem is that it is ambiguous and horrible UI that doesn't clearly show which state the choice has been set to, and as such it ideally should be updated at the earliest convenience. It is a trivial flaw, but still a flaw.

I don't agree with the opinion stated here. I do not see a problem, let alone one that needs fixing.

How is not being able to confidently tell at a glance what something is actively set to not a minor problem? Sure it isn't critical and the site will carry on without fixing it, but that doesn't mean something like that shouldn't be addressed at some point. Right now it is a pull chain light switch with no bulb in the socket. Not exactly a user friendly design.

Luckless wrote in post #17822339
Noticed this when I was looking for something else, and I'm not seeing anything about in this sub forum. There are a number of binary choices in the user settings which appear to be black or purple, but do not actually indicate which one is currently selected. (And the only 3 option choice I've seen users a different control scheme at the bottom of Followed Threads.)

Look at PM Settings for example.

Suggest updating this to a clear radio button, adding a "Setting is currently: X" string, or both, to improve clarity.

What can be clearer than BRIGHT PURPLE

Sorry but I don't get it. Purple=active choice, Black=option. Memorize these and there is no problem.

john crossley wrote in post #17823539
What can be clearer than BRIGHT PURPLE

A radio button and text clearly displaying what the setting currently is would be far clearer with zero logical way to confuse what the setting is currently configured as.

https://en.wikipedia.o​rg/wiki/Radio_button


If the settings were more than 2 options then there might be some excuse for the ambiguous purple and black, as it is rather obvious that "One of these things is not like the other", but right now it is a switch without actually labeling which is on and which is off.

Is the black the currently selected one, and the purple highlighting the button to change the setting? Or is it the other way around? Nothing on the page makes that immediately clear, and while it isn't a hard thing to find out if you poke at it for a bit there is absolutely no reason why a user should have to poke at settings to be sure what they're actually set to.

It is horrible UI design and there is zero reason why it should exist or be defended. It is also a trivial code update unless he has something extremely wonky going on with those pages, and I really can't understand why anyone would object to updating something so simple as that whenever there is time.

Why would I need to write my own forum and ignore this one when this minor UI flaw is so easy to update? I deal with data processing and AI, not web development, and this was less than a minute of trivial code.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Luckless, I looked at my PM setting in FYEO to find out what you were talking about. I think the problem is that both the active and inactive choices are links. They may not technically be links; anyway, the cursor becomes a hand on them. If the cursor remained an arrow on the active choice, you'd know that pressing there would do nothing. That'd be consistent with the practice in similar places on other sites, such as going to the next page of an article.

Not only is the active choice purple, but it's underlined by default. Should think that the combo is fairly clear.

Jon wrote in post #17823645
Not only is the active choice purple, but it's underlined by default. Should think that the combo is fairly clear.

Jon, underlining often indicates a link. So does color if surrounding text is black.

Luckless wrote in post #17822339
Noticed this when I was looking for something else, and I'm not seeing anything about in this sub forum. There are a number of binary choices in the user settings which appear to be black or purple, but do not actually indicate which one is currently selected. (And the only 3 option choice I've seen users a different control scheme at the bottom of Followed Threads.)

Look at PM Settings for example.

Suggest updating this to a clear radio button, adding a "Setting is currently: X" string, or both, to improve clarity.

Yes, I have planned to improve clarity of the settings. Whether it is radio button or something else needs to be determined.

But what is this ranting and negativity, BEFORE I even answered the post??

Luckless wrote in post #17823436
The problem is that it is ambiguous and horrible UI....

Luckless wrote in post #17823526
...Right now it is a pull chain light switch with no bulb in the socket. Not exactly a user friendly design.

Luckless wrote in post #17823559
...
It is horrible UI design and there is zero reason why it should exist or be defended.

Luckless wrote in post #17823593
...defensive of the current poor design choice for these settings. Do you have some vested interest in this trivial design issue not being fixed?

If you really work for AI design, perhaps you own algorithms on how to present and discuss feature requests would need some updating.

Yes, but only the active option has the underline. And the purple customarily indicates a previously-followed link, so . . .

john crossley wrote in post #17823539
What can be clearer than BRIGHT PURPLE

It works for me!