HTML multi-select not user-friendly on desktop?

Yesterday I was reviewing an HTML form with my UX colleague, and he said we should change all our elements to collections of checkboxes instead since selecting multiple things with it is just too unintuitive for desktop users.

Shift+click to select consecutive multiple

Ctrl+click to select non-consecutive multiple

Shift+Up/Down to select consecutive multiple with keyboard

Ctrl+Up/Down then release Ctrl, then Space to select non-consecutive multiple with Keyboard

(for mac of course replace Ctrl with Cmd)

This surprised me since it is a built-in html standard element, but kind of makes sense after thinking about it. What do you think? In contrast I do like how it renders on mobile, where it basically does render as a series of checkboxes. Would it be better if desktop browsers redesigned it to look more like mobile?

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  👤 codingdave Accepted Answer ✓

If there are only a few items, yes - checkboxes are great for short lists. But if it is a long list, no - a huge pile of checkboxes is awful. So if your list contains more than a dozen items, just stick with the multi-select.

And you are right to just use the built-in UX the browser offers. Flawed it may be, but it is standard. Don't confuse your desktop users by inventing something new. They know their own browser.

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👤 Daril

Have you tried Slim Select ? https://slimselectjs.com/

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