Check Box Guidelines

  • Article

4/19/2010

Use check boxes to provide the selection of options that can be combined. For mutually exclusive choices, use option or radio buttons.

When you include check boxes in your application, use the following guidelines:

  • Limit the number of check boxes in the user interface. If you need to include several options, consider using a list view or list box control instead. For more information, see List View Guidelines.
  • Because the list view control supports check marks next to selected options on Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic, you can use the list view instead of a group of check box controls. For more information, see List View Guidelines.
  • Always use the affirmative choice for the check box label. For example, use Enable ClearType instead of Disable ClearType. Keep the label brief to conserve space.

State Attributes

The following illustrations show the appearance of the check box control in its different states.

The checkbox control's appearance on Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic.

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The checkbox control's appearance on Windows Mobile Standard.

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Label Attributes

For Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic devices, use the 8pt Tahoma black font and sentence capitalization. If the label text for the check box wraps to more than one line, then vertically center the first line of label text with the check box.

For Windows Mobile Standard devices, use the 11pt Nina black font and sentence capitalization.

Development Considerations

Consider the following development conditions when you include check box controls in an application:

  • The entire line that includes the check box and the label should show focus, with the exception of Internet Explorer Mobile. In this application, only the check box shows focus.
  • Pressing the Action button selects or clears the check box.
  • The list view on Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Classic allows check marks by selected options. Depending on your application, you can choose to use the list view instead of using a group of check box controls.

See Also

Concepts

User Interface Control Guidelines
Capitalization and Punctuation Guidelines

Other Resources

List Boxes Reference