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Ask HN: HTML multi-select not user-friendly on desktop?

by TiredGuy on 10/15/24, 3:35 PM with 8 comments

Yesterday I was reviewing an HTML form with my UX colleague, and he said we should change all our <select multiple> 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?

  • by codingdave on 10/15/24, 3:38 PM

    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.

  • by Daril on 10/15/24, 3:54 PM

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