John,
[snip -- I did know the difference between checkboxes and radio buttons!]
I was almost certain you did :-)
If you're saying that a set of radio two or more buttons must always be shown with at least one pre-selected, i.e. as soon as the page loads, one is already selected, then there are only two options for the original poster to get good information from their form:
Well, by convention, that is what radio buttons should do.
1) Three radio buttons, one of them pre-selected for the value "nothing" or "incorrect input" -- the user is encouraged to select one of the other two and an error given by the script if they don't
2) A select menu, with one option pre-selected for "nothing" as above.
If there are 4 or fewer responses, that is where radio buttons have traditionally been recommended. For more, "popup" menus.
I'd suggest a radio button with "no response" or some such, which is selected, and then the other two
The first seems kind of illogical to me, and the users will be more used to the second.
Given this limitation of radio buttons, I wonder why it has not turned up in UI discussion much. I've never seen it as an issue before (althoough I do see it as one in this instance)
j
John Allsopp
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