Are the sort of switch controls you see on smart phones acceptable on the web - i'm talking about the left->right sliding on/off switches you have for Airplane mode and others. They certainly look nicer than checkboxes.. but are they usable on a desktop platform? I'm guessing they'd have to work on click, and drag to be fully useful.
Answer
I would argue that the sliding switch-style controls you describe for mobile devices are less usable on a non-mobile platform because they look like they are designed to be clicked and then dragged into a different state. This works on a mobile device where the primary interaction medium is tactile, but with pointer devices, the traditional interaction medium is the click - hence the checkbox, radio button, or 2-button group.
This isn't to say that the sliding switch control is unusable on a desktop - like you said, you could make it toggle by clicking on it, but the control doesn't afford this type of interaction at first glance on the desktop, and is therefore somewhat less usable than a traditional control.
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