Usability of Multi-Select ListBox

[George Durzi]

This is more of a design/philosophical question :)

I have a page in which the user sets attributes for a project. There are 8
attributes, e.g. Project Type, Country, etc. The number of options per
attribute varies. The user is allowed to select as many options per
attribute.

I'm using a multi-select ListBox for this, and it works perfectly. The
trouble I'm having is from a user perspective. Very few of the users seem to
understand that you can/should select multiple items in the ListBox.

I have a short blurb explaining that they can do that, and explaining how to
use the Ctrl-Click method. But still ...

Unfortunately, the quality of our data is suffering because users aren't
classifying projects properly.

I've thought about doing stuff using checkboxes or radiobuttonlists,
however, that ends up using a lot of screen space.

Can anybody think of an elegant way to do this in one screen (not a step by
step wizard)?

Thanks!

[IntelYogi]

George,
U can use the checkboxlist and keep the property RepeatColumns="1"
and RepeatDirection="Vertical" and put this list box inside a div with a
fixed width and height in that way it will give a close simulation to listbox
with checkboxes

Example:
<div class="placeholdercontainer" id="placeHolderDisposition"
style="OVERFLOW: auto; WIDTH: 280px; HEIGHT: 75px ;BORDER-RIGHT: gray 1px
solid; BORDER-TOP: gray 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: gray 1px solid;
BORDER-BOTTOM: gray 1px solid; ">
<asp:CheckBoxList ID="chkList" Runat="server" CssClass="FormText"
RepeatDirection="Vertical" RepeatColumns="1" BorderWidth="0"
Datafield="description" datavaluefield="value"></asp:CheckBoxList>
</div>

I think this would be an better approach by putting it under the div u can
limit the widht and height and checkboxlist inside it would be scrollable .
No need for the user to press Ctrl+click

Hope this helps you

IntelYogi
"George Durzi" wrote:

This is more of a design/philosophical question :)

I have a page in which the user sets attributes for a project. There are 8
attributes, e.g. Project Type, Country, etc. The number of options per
attribute varies. The user is allowed to select as many options per
attribute.

I'm using a multi-select ListBox for this, and it works perfectly. The
trouble I'm having is from a user perspective. Very few of the users seem to
understand that you can/should select multiple items in the ListBox.

I have a short blurb explaining that they can do that, and explaining how to
use the Ctrl-Click method. But still ...

Unfortunately, the quality of our data is suffering because users aren't
classifying projects properly.

I've thought about doing stuff using checkboxes or radiobuttonlists,
however, that ends up using a lot of screen space.

Can anybody think of an elegant way to do this in one screen (not a step by
step wizard)?

Thanks!

[George Durzi]

Excellent suggestion!
Thank you!

"IntelYogi" <In*******@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FB**********************************@microsof t.com...

George,
U can use the checkboxlist and keep the property RepeatColumns="1"
and RepeatDirection="Vertical" and put this list box inside a div with a
fixed width and height in that way it will give a close simulation to
listbox
with checkboxes

Example:
<div class="placeholdercontainer" id="placeHolderDisposition"
style="OVERFLOW: auto; WIDTH: 280px; HEIGHT: 75px ;BORDER-RIGHT: gray 1px
solid; BORDER-TOP: gray 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: gray 1px solid;
BORDER-BOTTOM: gray 1px solid; ">
<asp:CheckBoxList ID="chkList" Runat="server" CssClass="FormText"
RepeatDirection="Vertical" RepeatColumns="1" BorderWidth="0"
Datafield="description" datavaluefield="value"></asp:CheckBoxList>
</div>

I think this would be an better approach by putting it under the div u can
limit the widht and height and checkboxlist inside it would be
scrollable .
No need for the user to press Ctrl+click

Hope this helps you

IntelYogi
"George Durzi" wrote:

This is more of a design/philosophical question :)

I have a page in which the user sets attributes for a project. There are
8
attributes, e.g. Project Type, Country, etc. The number of options per
attribute varies. The user is allowed to select as many options per
attribute.

I'm using a multi-select ListBox for this, and it works perfectly. The
trouble I'm having is from a user perspective. Very few of the users seem
to
understand that you can/should select multiple items in the ListBox.

I have a short blurb explaining that they can do that, and explaining how
to
use the Ctrl-Click method. But still ...

Unfortunately, the quality of our data is suffering because users aren't
classifying projects properly.

I've thought about doing stuff using checkboxes or radiobuttonlists,
however, that ends up using a lot of screen space.

Can anybody think of an elegant way to do this in one screen (not a step
by
step wizard)?

Thanks!