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General Principles
There are a number of principles that should be kept in mind when designing a user interface. Just to mention a few:
- Know your user. It is perhaps the single most cited guideline in user interface guidelines. Yet, sometimes it is hard to make assumptions on your user population.
- Minimizing the load on users. This implies reducing the memory and cognitive load, providing informative feedback, memory aids, and other cognitive supports. It is also important to ensure that a work session can be easily interrupted for a few minutes without losing the work in progress (people are able to focus attention for a limited amount of time only). This should be taken into account when designing Web sites where pages have expiry dates and some information is not coded in the URL, making it impossible to step back to them later.
- Preserving consistencies. There are many consistencies to be preserved in a user interface: labeling, terminology, graphic conventions, components, layout, and so on. Many guidelines, principles, and even software design systematic approaches, are oriented towards consistency.
- Ensuring overall flexibility, error recovery, and customization. Flexibility is essential when dealing with people. Alas, human beings do err; providing mechanisms to reverse performed actions allows users to explore the UI, relieving them from the anxiety of being trapped in an unrecoverable mistake. Furthermore, the interface should be customizable by the user. For certain people this could be the only suitable way to use the application. Flexibility consists also in providing different usage mechanisms for different classes of users. Novices could use Wizards or other simplified but lengthy means for an easy interaction, while expert users can take advantage of some form of shortcut, all in the same UI. Generally, this is accomplished by providing two distinct interaction paths; one for experienced users and a simplified set of functions for inexperienced users.
- Following Standards. There are many standards and guidelines for interactions, abbreviations, terminology, and so on. Standards are essential for cross-application consistency and effective implementation. They ensure professional quality while reducing the design effort.
- Make explicit the system internal state. For example, providing warning messages when delicate data is being directly manipulated, even though by experienced users.
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