The Display Properties tab of the Question Editor enables the user to control some aspects of a question’s appearance. The available display options are described below.
General: Label and Label Position, Anchor When Randomized
The Label options apply to questions of Text display type only. If a label is typed in the Label field, the text of the label will be displayed to the left of the text box, to the right of the text box, or inline (meaning displayed within the text box). For example, a “$” label might display to the left of a text box in which participants are expected to enter a dollar amount; a “%” label would appear after a text box in which participants are expected to enter a percentage amount.
In the example below, MM/DD/YYYY appears inline:
Checking the box ‘Anchor this item when randomized’ ensures that when items on a page are randomized (by putting those items into a collection and selecting the option to randomize the options within the collection), that this specific item retains its position on the page.
Text Display Width
Text display width applies only to questions of text and commentary display type. The display width is the width, measured in characters, of the Text Field or Commentary. For text display type, only display width is enabled. For commentary questions, users may also alter the display height.
Checking ‘Hide Text (Password Style)’ ensures that when participants enter text into the field, it is replaced with security bullets, as in the screenshot below:
Columns
This applies to select one and check all that apply display types only. By default, Illume displays all of checkbox/radio options in a single column. When there are many options in a list, it can be beneficial to display the options in multiple columns to save space on the screen and minimize vertical scrolling. This can be overridden by changing the number of columns.
Select One Style
This option applies to select one type questions only. Select one questions can be displayed in any of the following formats:
Radio button: Radio buttons have the advantage of allowing participants to see all of the available options at once.
Likert scale: Likert scales convey to the participant that he or she is choosing a value from a continuum in which the two ends represent opposing extremes.
Poplist: Poplists have the advantage of being able to present a large number of options in a small amount of space.
Column Width
This applies to select one display type questions wherein the likert scale select one style is selected. The likert scale style essentially creates a one row table, with each of the options being the columns of the table. By default the width of each column sizes to the length of the column header/label. It is important that columns display with equal width, as there are data to show that participants are more likely to choose options listed under the column of greatest width, despite the option that column represents.
To set the width to an absolute value, type in a whole number followed by the letters px. For example, a setting of 100px sets the width of each column to 100 pixels.
To set the columns to a relative width, use percent values like 15%. This sets the width of each column containing a response option to 15% of the total width of the table. (Keep in mind that the prompt occupies one column of the table, and this is generally the widest column, as it contains text.)
Columns with fixed width values (e.g. 100px) will keep a constant width even as participants re-size their browser windows. Columns with percentage widths will expand and contract as the participant changes the width of the browser window.