When creating forms, which option should you choose:

Radio buttons or dropdown menus?

Radio buttons and drop-downs should be used in certain scenarios to make it easier for user to select a given input.

Below are 7 rules based on this usability study that will help you to decide about one of these controls while designing a form.

Use Radio Buttons

Rule#1: When You Want to Emphasize Options

Using a drop-down menu does not seem good as default option does not give a clue about other options.

Rule#2: When You Have Less Than 5 Options

Rule#3: When Comparison of Options Needs to Make Clear

Rule#4: When Visibility and Quick Response Is A Priority

Use Drop-Down Menus

Rule#5: When Default Option Is The Recommended Option

Rule#6: When A Large Number of Familiar Options Are Available

Rule#7: When You Have More Than 7 Options

Conclusion

To enhance form’s user experience, it is very important to provide correct controls to take user’s input. Since forms can be very long with large number of options, it becomes tedious for user if he has to make extra clicks to fill his information. The given set of rules will help you to decide between two controls, radio buttons and drop-down menus, while designing your forms.

7 Rules of Using Radio Buttons vs Drop-Down Menus

PS. 📻🔘

PPS. Yep, a radio button.