These rules were obtained from
the text designing the User Interface by Ben Shneiderman. Shneiderman proposed
this collection of principles that are derived heuristically from experience
and applicable in most interactive systems after being properly refined,
extended, and interpreted.
To improve the usability of an
application it is important to have a well-designed interface. Shneiderman's
"Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design" are a guide to good
interaction design.
- Strive for consistency.
Consistent sequences of actions
should be required in similar situations; identical terminology should be used
in prompts, menus, and help screens; and consistent commands should be employed
throughout.
- Enable frequent users to use shortcuts.
As the frequency of use
increases, so do the user's desires to reduce the number of interactions and to
increase the pace of interaction. Abbreviations, function keys, hidden
commands, and macro facilities are very helpful to an expert user.
- Offer informative feedback.
For every operator action, there
should be some system feedback. For frequent and minor actions, the response
can be modest, while for infrequent and major actions, the response should be more
substantial.
- Design dialog to yield closure.
Sequences of actions should be
organized into groups with a beginning, middle, and end. The informative
feedback at the completion of a group of actions gives the operators the
satisfaction of accomplishment, a sense of relief, the signal to drop
contingency plans and options from their minds, and an indication that the way
is clear to prepare for the next group of actions.
- Support internal locus of control.
Experienced operators strongly
desire the sense that they are in charge of the system and that the system
responds to their actions. Design the system to make users the initiators of
actions rather than the responders.
- Reduce short-term memory load.
The limitation of human
information processing in short-term memory requires that displays be kept
simple, multiple page displays be consolidated, window-motion frequency be
reduced, and sufficient training time be allotted for codes, mnemonics, and
sequences of actions.
- Offer simple error handling.
As much as possible, design the
system so the user cannot make a serious error. If an error is made, the system
should be able to detect the error and offer simple, comprehensible mechanisms
for handling the error.
- Permit easy reversal of actions.
This feature relieves anxiety,
since the user knows that errors can be undone; it thus encourages exploration
of unfamiliar options. The units of reversibility may be a single action, a
data entry, or a complete group of actions.
About Shneiderman :
Ben Shneiderman (born August 21, 1947) is an American computer scientist, and professor for Computer Science at the University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park. He conducted fundamental research in the field of human–computer interaction, developing new ideas, methods, and tools such as the direct manipulation interface, and his eight rules of design.
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