Danny - yes that's probably the simplest solution but you're still left wanting more if you have a hierarchy and want to show checkbox inheritance; if you have a long list and you need to avoid the selected items getting hidden when scrolled away; and so on.

Ha! Looks almost like they used that for design guidance!

I forgot to say - thanks to Bruce Boughton for the link!

You're right, I do present a worst-case scenario, yet one that I constantly find myself in. Some niches tend to engage in this practice more than others. Job boards tend to be offenders, as do estate agent (real estate) sites.