You must make clear for the user when you're showing the actual value of the setting and when you're showing an action to be performed, or the "future value" if the user clicks. You should not mix both.
This is the Languages Window, in Settings:
What does means "Display Google Chrome in this Language" in a darker rounded box?
It can easily be the actual setting, that is meaning "Chrome is being displayed in english (US)" , but it is not, it's a BUTTON. The text it's expressing the action
If you click it, well, sometimes it does nothing, but the idea is that it will CHANGE TO A LABEL, that reads "Google Chrome is displayed in this language"
Problems with this UI design:
1) Actual value display and change element are in the same place.
2) You can't see the active setting, you should click on every item on the left, to see at the right which one of the buttons are labels.
3) It's not even clear that the rounded dark square is a button or a "selected" clue.
A clearer design would be:
Situation Analysis:
You have 2 functions there.
a) Show and add/remove installed languages
b) Select Language for display and the language for the spell checker
The left pane covers function a) fine.
So the right pane should be about "Display and Spell Check Language". It should have 2 combos, one for "Display Language" and the other for "Spell Check Language"
Display Language: [English [v] ] <- Selection Combo
Spell-Check Language: [English [v] ] <- Selection Combo
[ ] Enable spell checking
Also the "[ ] Enable spell checking" check box will be closer to the spell check selection instead of being lost at the bottom of the page.
Another massive used UI with this problem is Youtube. Why does the play button change from play to pause. ¿is there a shortage of virtual space for virtual buttons? ¿are virtual buttons expensive?
Since the videlo will pause because of connection issues, this is a problem.
Is the button showing then actual state, or the action it will perform if you press it?
The solution is to have always two buttons, play & pause, and to light-up the active function. That is, have clear "state" indicators (light) and "action" indicator (shapes).
