Opinion: New UI/View for Checkbox fields is BAD.

[Darryl Lee]

Opinion

In Jira, Checkboxes fields display (in View mode) exactly as Select List (multiple options). And in Edit mode they function identically.

This is bad.

(Also I realize now this is also the case on Server/DC, so this is not new. But it still super-annoying, resulting in hackery like this, which was a fun programming exercise, but I think it's due to a STUPID UI CHOICE.)

Discussion

So I get it. Checkboxes are Web 1.0. They're old. They take up tons of extra space.

But there's a pretty valuable point to always showing them: YOU CAN SEE WHAT WAS NOT CHECKED.

Here's how Checkboxes look when you CREATE an issue, and I swear that  LONG AGO in on-prem Jira, even in View mode (in the pre-inline editing days), you could still see both checked and unchecked boxes (maybe they were grayed out to show you couldn't check anyboxes)

Currently in both Jira Server/DC and Cloud, if you have a Checkbox field, the options only show up when editing the field. But once you are done editing, you ONLY see the options you have checked.

Functionally this is exactly the same as a multiple choice Select field.

Here are the two types of fields while being edited:

When you complete editing of the fields, and are viewing the issue you cannot tell the difference:

This is bad. The point of checkboxes isn't just a different user interface (and in this case, the difference is negligible), the point is that UNCHECKED OPTIONS ARE IMPORTANT. They provide VALUABLE CONTEXT.

Conclusion

If you want to not show all the options, then you can do that with a Select List (multiple options) field.

A Checkboxes field should SHOW CHECKBOXES even in on View screens. THIS IS BROKEN.

Of course modern UX/UI designers will pooh-pooh this and say I'm old. And it's true, I am. But I'm also right.

[Darryl Lee]

Ok. I've taken some deep cleansing breaths. No more ALL CAPS. Sorry about that.

So. A friend suggests I offer some real world examples to help explain.

Here's one: 

• How do I allow a customfield of type checkboxes to show the unchecked boxes in an issue ? 

emileL29 basically wanted a checklist like this:

Part of the point of a checklist is being able to see what has not been checked.

And I mean, there's a Checkboxes field, so it seems like this should be possible right? But no, Atlassian has taken a perfectly functional feature, and made it redundant with Select List (multiple choice), and then forced users to go with third-party "Checklist" solutions which all implement this slightly differently, and most importantly, require a third-party add-on and also probably more money.

In the use case that prompted my rant, @Darrin Lillian has a "Implementation Scope" field with 50 options (ok, admittedly this would be a very long field of checkboxes :-).

But I believe the point is that it is as important to see for each issue what options are NOT in scope as much as what options ARE in scope.

[Ajay _view26_]

@Darryl Lee  .. get your point ..but showing 50 options with your implementation will take up a lot of space 😃

[Darryl Lee]

Heh, yeah, 50 checkboxes is a bad example. :-}

I think it's actually going to be really interesting how this ends up looking in @Darrin Lillians final issues if he does in fact start out with all 50 options initially "checked" in the Scope field. I wonder if you might be able to share a screenshot?

[Kenneth Gilliam]

For the display, it could handle dynamic rendering of the checklist options in a couple ways that I can think of that could work to satisfy creators, reporters, watchers, assignees

1. Limit default to Display 5 or 10 options. If more than this, add an expand/collapse section control
2. format the section to have two or three columns that allow 5 or 10 by default and add an expand/collapse section control

[Aymeric Malle]

I don't want to rub it in and cause more drama but. This is bad.

Is there any way to fix this ?

And why is it different depending on how we show the same screen ?

[Ashley Farley]

Agreed.  Why even have a checkboxes type if it behaves like a multi-select field?  That's just dumb.  The average person would assume that a checkboxes type would display a checklist for the very reasons that @Darryl Lee said, to see what's not checked.  That's just common sense, and this design defies common sense.

Let's turn this into a bug request; it's certainly not a feature request. :)

[Saskia Hoppe]

It's been a minute since I've needed and new field so hadn't realized they'd mucked around checkboxes.. And yes, I beed check boxes because I need to see what's NOT checked as it's a simple 'to do' list and I don't want to have 10 sub tasks each time... And exactly, what is the difference between checkboxes and multi-select field?? Anyway. Carry on.

[akhorsand]

Hi everyone - I recommend voting for this issue to help get this fixed faster!

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRACLOUD-83338

[LC]

I can't agree with this post more. It's in the same bucket for me as being forced to click into a menu to see the available workflows instead of being presented with buttons.

Thank you Daryl. I'm glad I'm not alone.

This is what the multiple choice checkboxes look like in Jira Server.

[Darryl Lee]

Huh somebody liked this page recently, so I came back to realize I broke all my images due to a misunderstanding of how the forums stored images.

In looking for replacement images, I discovered this remarkable ticket:

• JRASERVER-72703 - Checkbox Custom Field to show Checkboxes in Issue View Screen instead of Text Lists 

If I'm understanding the ticket correctly, I guess in a version of Jira server in 2021 (so like, 8.13ish?), it seems like inline editing was available for Checkboxes:

But when you saved the changes, they rendered as... OMG, a comma-delimited list? 

Wow, I do NOT remember that. And I also don't think that was how it was when we migrated off of DC in May of 2024.

[Gary Spross]

2.5 years after you originally wrote this post, because you commented on it and I was notified, I find myself in complete agreement with your original statement.

Additionally, the radio buttons field type is pointless in my opinion.

Test question time!

Checkboxes are to multi select lists as radio buttons are to ???

Ding ding ding! Single select lists.

Which is why I never create fields of type checkbox or radio buttons. I always go with single or multi select lists.

Additionally (and very interestingly), forms render the checkbox and radio button in the more expected way.

[HAEGELIN Sacha]

If the checkbox is reworked re-worked, it would be great if it could be displayed on multiple columns instead on only one.

For example, 2x10 checkbox rather than 20 checkboxes in one column.


I guess many people have large screen as I have.....

[Jennifer Choban - HeroCoders]

@Darryl Lee It's a good point.

You might want to consider a third party app like Checklists for Jira. You can set permissions on who can modify the checklist so it could replace a Jira checklist field.

[Yatish Madhav]

Thanks @Darryl Lee your post makes total sense! I noticed this in the past too and found it odd.

For no clear reason at all and due to this, I only ever used selects. Checkboxes has it's place like you say but with newer UX/UI, it seems it is less useful - is my thoughts.

Thanks