website design - Does the average user understand the standard HTML multiple select box?

If I want the user to select one or more items the HTML symantecally correct form element would be .

So the code would be:



Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
Option 5



Which looks like this:.

The user can choose multiple elements by Ctrl or Shift clicking items.

This is the standard widget used by browsers, but is this the best way to display this kind of input? Do users understand it?

I could add instructions, but in my opinion if it needs instructions like that it's probably a bad design. Is there a good alternative? Maybe a JavaScript widget that replaces it?

Answer

In short: No, average users don't understand that.

You could either just show all options with checkboxes or try something fancy like a dropdown with checkboxes (example, see features dropdown). This would have to be tested though.

Hope that helps, Phil