An Example of Bad HTML Form Usability

While recently reconfiguring a Netgear FVS-124G router I was astounded by the blatant misuse of HTML form elements. In the router configuration there was a list of services that were forwarded to various computers. (I would call it port forwarding but Netgear has its own way of doing things -- another usability mistake.) The router was being configured for a new office so none of the existing dozen-or-so entries were valid and needed to be removed.

Bad Netgear Usability

Since the list used Radio Buttons (wrong) instead of Check Boxes (correct), I was only able to select a single entry at a time, delete it, click Continue on the following confirmation page, and then return to the list to start the process all over again. Sure, the Radio Buttons could be a way to prevent someone from accidentally deleting a whole selection, but that's what confirmation boxes are for.

You'd think someone as big as Netgear would have gotten their act together by now and worked out some of these really silly usability issues. For that matter, they (along with Linksys) should do away with their interface all together and adopt DD-WRT!

HTML Radio Buttons: A blast from the past!

So there I was sitting in my C/Unix class at Harvard barely paying attention to the professor as he talked about HTML forms (!) when I heard him start talking about the history of the HTML radio button. I often wondered why they were called "radio" buttons so I shifted my attention and listened.

He started by trying to explain to a room full of people a third his age how car radios did not always have tiny touch-sensitive buttons and that they used to be single mechanical buttons that when one was pressed, the other would come out (much like the old cassette-based walkman's).

This little fact fascinated me because I have been using HTML radio buttons for so long and until now, I have been so oblivious to the history behind their name. A quick search on Wikipedia confirmed my professor's story:

A radio button or option button is a type of graphical user interface widget that allows the user to choose one of a predefined set of options. They were named after the physical buttons used on car radios to select preset stations - when one of the buttons was pressed, other buttons would pop out, leaving the pressed button the only button in the "pushed in" position.