Hey you (Apple included)! Don’t break established design principles! This public service announcement comes from Jakob Nielsen in a recent UX Roundup newsletter.

He essentially says that square pegs and round holes don’t mix:

• “Checkboxes are used for lists of selection options where the user can select as many or as few as desired, from zero up to the full list. Checkboxes are square, and when selected, the square is populated with a checkmark (or, sometimes, an X).”
• “Radio buttons are used for lists of selection options where one and only one item can be selected at any given time. Radio buttons are circles, and the one selected option is indicated by a large dot inside its circle.”

Why you shouldn’t change design principles

It is important to follow established UI principles to ensure usability, consistency, and intuitive interaction for users across various platforms and applications. “For more than 40 years, one convention has held firm for graphical user interfaces (GUI): checkboxes are square, and radio boxes are round.”

What are other design principles that should be followed?

Read Checkboxes Are Square; Radio Buttons Are Round on Substack