Enabled or Disabled

Question

Apologies for such a trivial question :)I have a mobile application where the user can add and manage of data source and rule entries. I now would like to add a feature which allows the user to selectively disable individual entries without deleting them straight away, but wonder if it is better to have an "Enabled" checkbox in the UI, indicating if it is enabled or not, or rather the opposite one with a "Disabled" checkbox.Similar question also about the database field. Naming it enabled or disabled?Again, apologies for a rather trivial question but some UX insight would be appreciated.

theschwa · Accepted Answer

We used to have some "disabled" checkboxes, but they caused a ton of confusion, and negative user feedback. We switched to toggles with On and Off written on either with all verbiage written in the positive, and we no longer get questions about it. e.g.: Use "blah blah" data source: Off (--o) On

kstenerud · Answer

Perhaps call it "hidden", and then also have a view option to see or not see hidden records?"enabled" and "disabled" are vague sounding names that don't give any hint as to what selecting them will do.

night-rider · Answer

I like color cues. So a toggle goes green when it's on, and red when it's off. State to the user what the colors mean.

Someone · Answer

Avoid double negatives. You don&rsquo;t want users to uncheck a &ldquo;Disabled&rdquo; or &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t use data source &lsquo;Foo&rsquo;&rdquo; checkbox.

Enabled or Disabled

We used to have some "disabled" checkboxes, but they caused a ton of confusion, and negative user feedback. We switched to toggles with On and Off written on either with all verbiage written in the positive, and we no longer get questions about it. e.g.: Use "blah blah" data source: Off (--o) On

Perhaps call it "hidden", and then also have a view option to see or not see hidden records?
"enabled" and "disabled" are vague sounding names that don't give any hint as to what selecting them will do.

I like color cues. So a toggle goes green when it's on, and red when it's off. State to the user what the colors mean.

Avoid double negatives. You don’t want users to uncheck a “Disabled” or “Don’t use data source ‘Foo’” checkbox.