[IxDA Discuss] columns of alphabetical checkboxes: across or down?

[Todd Warfel]

On Sep 1, 2006, at 9:43 AM, Bryan J Busch wrote:

> Are people more likely to want to scan for the word they want by
> looking across then down, or down and then across?

We actually studied this just a couple of years ago. The off-line  
model was vertical then across since it was a written booklet format.  
We suggested across then down, because that's the way people read on  
the web. The client was initially very against this idea. However,  
testing showed that across then down actually worked better than down  
then across.

And we did provide visual cues for horizontal reading - 1pxl light  
grey lines with group headings in a pale yellow.

Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
Messagefirst | designing and usability consulting
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