Tickable "Disable something"

[Blurrybob]

Do you also get irritated when you see a tickable (I'm not sure this word exists) option which begins with "Disable" in the settings menu of a program? That is for example "Diasble hardware acceleration" in MS Word. Intuitively, I'd like to ENABLE something when I tick it, and disable something when I untick it. Wouldn't it be better if that option was "Enable hardware acceleration" instead? This also holds for that "Do not do something" tickable option too. Any thoughts?

[Eigenvektor]

A checkbox labeled "Disable X" implies that having it enabled is the default. Likewise a checkbox labeled "Enable X" implies it is disabled by default.

[Blurrybob]

On 3/11/2021 at 10:43 AM, Eigenvektor said:

A checkbox labeled "Disable X" implies that having it enabled is the default. Likewise a checkbox labeled "Enable X" implies it is disabled by default.

Yes I know, but why don't they make everything "Enable X" and "Enable Y". Like I said I intuitively expect something to be enabled when "ticked", and disabled when "unticked". Am I asking too much?

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Blurrybob said:

Yes I know, but why don't they make everything "Enable X" and "Enable Y". Like I said I intuitively expect something to be enabled when "ticked", and disabled when "unticked". Am I asking too much?

As I said, to tell you what the default is. If GPU acceleration is the default, then a "Disable GPU acceleration" checkbox is, in my opinion, much more logical than an "Enable GPU acceleration" checkbox that is ticked by default. This way you know that GPU acceleration is the default and you can disable it when needed. If the checkbox was the other way around, I would assume having it disabled is the default.

 

Here's an example where that would actually be confusing to me. Imagine you have settings like this:

[Advanced settings]

...(some other settings)...

-- Debug options

[x] Enable GPU acceleration

 

To me that would imply I can enable GPU acceleration in case it doesn't work without it (e.g. to work around a bug) but that it should normally be disabled. If GPU acceleration is actually the default and you can disable it in the case it causes bugs, does it not make much more sense to call that option "Disable GPU acceleration"?

[Blurrybob]

On 3/13/2021 at 4:06 PM, Eigenvektor said:

As I said, to tell you what the default is. If GPU acceleration is the default, then a "Disable GPU acceleration" checkbox is, in my opinion, much more logical than an "Enable GPU acceleration" checkbox that is ticked by default. This way you know that GPU acceleration is the default and you can disable it when needed. If the checkbox was the other way around, I would assume having it disabled is the default.

 

Here's an example where that would actually be confusing to me. Imagine you have settings like this:

[Advanced settings]

...(some other settings)...

-- Debug options

[x] Enable GPU acceleration

 

To me that would imply I can enable GPU acceleration in case it doesn't work without it (e.g. to work around a bug) but that it should normally be disabled. If GPU acceleration is actually the default and you can disable it in the case it causes bugs, does it not make much more sense to call that option "Disable GPU acceleration"?

I see your point. So it all boils down to tastes then. Although I understand your argument, I still find my approach to be more intuitive for ME. The weak spot of your reasoning seems to me to be the idea that every unticked option is the default one. As my understanding of computers hardly goes beyond following instructions on a Readme file, I assume you may be right overall. Cheers