UI is like a joke
if you have to explain it, it’s not that good — Martin LeBlanc
Most of us in the software world have had our GDPR times recently. I am not sure if this dialog was created on this website for GDPR or it has always existed but for those who don’t know, GDPR is a new set of rules designed to give EU citizens more control over their personal data. It aims to simplify the regulatory environment for business so both citizens and businesses in the European Union can fully benefit from the digital economy. To that effect, websites are expected to make cookie policy transparent and provide ways for the user to control their own data.
A website typically collects various kinds of data from our browsing such as usage and interests so that they can provide a better experience for their users by learning about them. Usabilitygeek is one of the websites that I refer to for case studies on certain UI patterns to kickoff my primary research process. I was on the website to look at any research related to usability of Tabs UI and I was shown popup dialog as shown in the image above. First of all, I really appreciate the company attempting to be as transparent as they can be about their cookie policy providing explanations to what they collect and why.
What caught my eyes was the prompt on the top of the dialog that says “You can use the toggles to enable or disable them. If you see the text ‘ON’, then the respective cookies are enabled. Conversely, if you see the text ‘OFF’, that means that the cookies are disabled”. It was certainly a “what?” moment for me and it took a minute for me to really understand the toggles even after reading the prompt.
UI has to be self-explanatory with prompts provided as and when needed. That should not mean one complicates it and gives an explanation. Switch/Toggle UI is great for on/off-ing a feature in a software and is a very common pattern where there is a binary decision that has to be made by the user. Where it gets tricky is the execution. I do not intend to offer any “better solutions” in this series but the designer could have achieved the same goal by a simple radio button group — “Yes, I agree and No, disable them”. This would have been much intuitive for any kind of user, tech savvy or not and, would have been quick to interact with.
