Radio & Multiselect

Single and multiple choice annotation types.

Radio & Multiselect

Radio buttons and multiselect checkboxes are the most common annotation types for classification tasks.

Radio Buttons

Use radio buttons when annotators should select exactly one option.

Basic Configuration

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: radio
    name: sentiment
    description: "Select the sentiment of this text"
    labels:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Neutral

With Keyboard Shortcuts

Add keyboard shortcuts for faster annotation:

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: radio
    name: sentiment
    description: "Select the sentiment"
    labels:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Neutral
    keyboard_shortcuts:
      Positive: "1"
      Negative: "2"
      Neutral: "3"

With Tooltips

Provide additional context for each option:

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: radio
    name: sentiment
    description: "Select the sentiment"
    labels:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Neutral
    tooltips:
      Positive: "The text expresses happiness, satisfaction, or approval"
      Negative: "The text expresses sadness, anger, or disapproval"
      Neutral: "The text does not express strong emotion"

Multiselect

Use multiselect when annotators can choose multiple options.

Basic Configuration

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: multiselect
    name: topics
    description: "Select all topics that apply"
    labels:
      - Politics
      - Sports
      - Technology
      - Entertainment
      - Science

With Minimum/Maximum Selection

Constrain the number of selections:

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: multiselect
    name: topics
    description: "Select 1-3 topics"
    labels:
      - Politics
      - Sports
      - Technology
    min_selections: 1
    max_selections: 3

Styling Options

Horizontal Layout

Display options horizontally instead of vertically:

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: radio
    name: rating
    labels:
      - "1"
      - "2"
      - "3"
      - "4"
      - "5"
    display: horizontal

Custom Colors

Assign colors to labels:

yaml

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: radio
    name: sentiment
    labels:
      - Positive
      - Negative
      - Neutral
    label_colors:
      Positive: "#22c55e"
      Negative: "#ef4444"
      Neutral: "#6b7280"

Best Practices

Keep labels concise - Use short, clear label names
Use keyboard shortcuts - Speeds up annotation significantly
Add tooltips for ambiguous labels - Helps ensure consistency
Limit options - Too many choices slow down annotators
Order logically - Most common options first, or alphabetically