...now seriously, what's wrong with good ol' radio buttons and check-boxes? they seem 100x more intuitive and with some effort (yeah, more than it should...) you can make stylish versions of them that will match you design
I'm kind of ashamed to write this, but I had never realized what "radio button" actually means.
I grew up knowing what they were (I was born in the 80s), but English not being my primary language, I never considered that "radio button" might mean "the kind of button you have in a radio". And I never felt the need to look for a definition :)
(are you done laughing?)
When using a mouse the radio button is the most simple and efficient widget. But when using touch screens, the sliding frame seems a better solution because it avoids accidental state change, while still being a natural and intuitive operation to do with the finger.
So I would say that for touch screen devices (especially phones) the proposed solution is excellent and better than radio buttons.
For his example of the different game flavors, it does not make sense at all to have a slider, simply have users click on the option they want to have, and jump to a next page to ask for details and confirm everything. You need to have a confirmation page anyway.
I think these look incredible and I can't wait for a usable version.
[Edited for clarity]
this may be true for a certain definition of normal, but the point for this game example is that you don't need EITHER: just have the user click on the desired option and let them be lead to the next/confirmation page... drop dead simple 'cause, as wise men have said before: "no UI" > "less UI" > "your UI" (where ">" = "is better than")
Thanks for sharing the UI quote. I hadn't heard it before and I immediately see the, ah, practical application it has to my own work.
It adds a single "continue" click from what you seem to propose, but if the rest of the checkout process is streamlined, that may be acceptable.
I agree that they're not really appropriate on desktop browsers, and I haven't really seen an implementation of them that impresses me or gets it completely "right."
Edited: I distinctly remember being confused about what kind of control they were the first time I saw them.
In the digitl world? A well thought out and presented slider might actually encourage engagement with a feature, overrelying on abstract radio buttons.