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Use case: User wants to find employees from a list based on some criteria. To simplify things let's say it is spoken language attribute only. Case 1: user wants to find person speaking multilingual - every selected language. Case 2: user wants to find person speaking any of selected languages.

What is best way to select languages covering both cases? For common user knowledge of boolean algebra is not expected.

mockup

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Frantisek Kossuth
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  • See suggestions at http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/1737/intuitive-interface-for-composing-boolean-logic. A variation on Hisham's answer seems apt for your design, where the user explicitly selects if "Any" or "All" apply to each employee. – Michael Zuschlag May 03 '12 at 11:46
  • Thanks for reference. I wanted to avoid this kind of dialog - too many clicks. – Frantisek Kossuth May 03 '12 at 13:07

2 Answers2

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I would expect most (if not all) users to understand "and" and "or" operators even if they don't know it's Boolean logic. The conditions translate to natural language:

I want to find all users that speak French and German.

I want to find all users that speak English or Norwegian.

So you can simply display the words "and" and "or" in your UI when the user selects the "add a new condition" option.

Given your mockup this could be implemented by having a radio button (or perhaps a combo) in the languages section that has the values "any" and "all" rather than "or" and "and":

mockup

download bmml source – Wireframes created with Balsamiq Mockups

and a similar one for skills.

Community
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ChrisF
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  • See my mockup: current "query" allows to select one or more attributes. It is uncertain, whether filtered employees have any (or) or all (and) attributes. In other words, I can cover (and document + educate users) either case 1, or case 2. I want users to choose which case to use for every attribute. Your suggestion, if I undesrtand correctly, is to add another radio button with and/or options. Isn't it right? – Frantisek Kossuth May 03 '12 at 10:37
  • @FrantisekKossuth - I'll update the answer given your mockup. – ChrisF May 03 '12 at 10:54
  • I think this suggestion is good, though I'd probably not use a dropdown here but exclusive buttons to select Any or All. That saves a click, and makes it easier to spot the available options. – André May 03 '12 at 14:38
  • @André Possibly a segmented control? This would allow the buttons/actions to be grouped nicely, will still allowing visibility into both distinct options unlike with a dropdown. – GotDibbs May 03 '12 at 17:51
  • @GotDibbs - the problem with segmented control (or state buttons) AND one/two options is to identify, which control/highlight means active value. For three+ values it is the "different" one, but for one or two values it is uncertain, what value is selected. Therefore I don't like that control :-) – Frantisek Kossuth May 04 '12 at 07:20
  • @FrantisekKossuth Very good point sir although it's possible to differentiate the two with an additional indicator such as an '>' or a checkmark or someting. Another option would be to use a flip switch/toggle control instead. – GotDibbs May 04 '12 at 14:08
  • @FrantisekKossuth: Good point, though I doubt it will be a huge issue in practise. Sure, you'll have to be clearer than with a segmented control with more elements, but for instance following platform standards would help already (if this is a real app, for a web app that may be more difficult). I mean: theoretically, the same issue would apply for radio buttons, right? – André May 07 '12 at 08:50
  • @André "> the same issue would apply for radio buttons, right?" Exactly. I have seen few apps with "custom visual theme" where I had to stare and think a lot whether some 2 state radiobutton (or checkbox) is turned on or off. – Frantisek Kossuth May 07 '12 at 15:59
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You can allow users to specify "all" or "any" and then select the languages. I've seen technical neophytes get that wtihout trouble, though my evidence is anecdotal (relatives), not formal (studies).

Monica Cellio
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