I think the design is just fine (you can measure clicks on the CTA to see whether people are confused or not), but it could use more contextual cues to help the user focus on what's happening. Here are my suggestions on what to try to make it more user-friendly.

1. Bring the modal more into view by centering it or focusing the modal

We have a similar "metrics display selector" in KISSmetrics and use visual cues to let the user focus on the task at hand.

Here we have an option to "Configure Metrics".

After clicking the button, we bring the modal into view and darkening everything else. This way, the user knows that they need to accomplish something first before moving on. We try to work in the mindset of a "workflow".

Granted, this could may not apply for you if you're dynamically displaying/changing your graphs as they make changes on their selection. In that case, you do want your users to pay attention to what's happening to the graph as they make selections.

2. Grey out the text more on the choices you cannot select, not just for the option to click.

This contextual cue helps the user know that they cannot select it until one is unchecked.

In the user studies I've done around this interface, the greyed-out text in addition to the greyed-out box helps them slow down and read the text of "You can choose up to 3."

3. Bring selections back into focus once they are available.

If one selection is unchecked, the rest of the options come into view no longer greyed:

Again, contextual cues help them know that they can now select something from the list.

I actually prefer your current design because it's more simple than trying to display a lot of drop downs which introduces too many decisions for a user once they reach this screen.

My research side tells me you should just test the amount of clicks on the CTA to figure out if there's enough traction to warrant an interaction change. And, if it does, A/B test drop-down menus (if that's what you want to do) against this to see which results in more activity from users.

Good luck and let us know what you end up trying out!

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How do you lock a user into their own directory (files, directory, users, Linux)?

Depends on what you mean by “lock a user into their own directory”.

A user can access many directories - some contain programs they want to run, some may have data they need.

It is the permissions on the files and directories as to whether a user can access them.

Some ways to “lock a user” is by using a “bsd jail”, which sets up a directory tree that only they can access, and the “jail” part is spawning a login shell within that directory tree.

The only files and programs they can access are those within that directory tree.

I don't have a specific answer, but a few thoughts on your current approach, and then some alternative ideas below that.

First, the way you're handling the checkboxes is pretty much correct: you'll want to prevent the user from selecting more than they are allowed. Another solution I've seen is to throw an alert if the user tries to select another item, but that is annoying and obtrusive.

You could do a better job with messaging. I think most users will breeze over the text that lets them know they can select up to three items. That should be more prominent.

Another issue is that the users never got to make the three selections in the first place, since you're pre-selecting for them. Thus, they are not seeing the fourth option become inactive. This visual cue would help explain a lot. So, could you allow them to pre-select their options instead of pre-populating them before they start using the graph?

Now some alternative ideas:

More than 3
How many options are there? If it's just four or five, or even six, why not just allow users to turn them on. It seems like you have plenty of room in your graph for additional data points, so I'm not understanding the need to allow only three data points?

Drag and drop
Did you consider a drag-and-drop approach, where the user drags up to three items to show into three empty buckets? This way, they are seeing that they have a max number of options, and if they want to add another, they need to remove one. Kind of clunky, so...

Three drop-downs
Why not have three drop-down menus? This automatically constrains the number of options to three, and are thus self-explanatory. They would have to be dynamic, so when a user selects an option in one drop-down, it is removed from the remaining menus. The downside here is that you're hiding options in menus, but the upside is you've built the constraint right into the UI so it's more telegraphic.

No really great solution here, but hopefully some ideas that spark something.

Directory listings are a key part of your website's SEO. Directory listings, also known as backlinks, are links to your website that direct traffic to your site, often from third-party sites. They can help you increase the number of visitors to your site and improve your ranking in search engines.

Directory listings are created when someone links to you from their own website or blog. You can ask them for a link, or they may offer one if they find value in your business or content.

To create an effective directory listing strategy, it's important to understand what types of websites will accept directory links and which ones won't.