8 golden rules of Interface Design

The 8 golden tules of Interface Design were created in a 1988 book by Ben Schneiderman serving mainly as guidelines for the effective design of interactive interfaces according to the major principles of usability, communicability and applicability.

Strive for consistency - Consistent sequences of actions are to be used in similar situations. The same should be done with word choice, which is best used in prompts, screens and menus. Successfully navigating a screen once should ensure that the user can navigate the other screens in similar fashion.

Enable frequent users to use shortcuts - As the frequency of use increases, so does the user's desire to cut back on time used to do the same actions and to increase the pace of interaction. Shortcuts, function keys and macro facilities help speed up interactions for users who are already acquainted with the system.

Offer informative feedback.- feedback should be provided for every action. For frequent and common actions, the response can be kept to a minimum, while major actions call for a higher level of details.

Design dialog to yield closure.- every group of actions should be signalled with a beginning, middle and end. Upon finishing a set of actions there should be a system response informing the user of its successful completion and that he is good to proceed to the next group of actions.

Offer simple error handling - system designers should create a system that won't allow the user to make a serious error that would compromise the whole system. The system itself should detect inconsistencies and offer simple dialogues for understanding and handling the error.

Permit easy reversal of actions - just make sure that errors can be undone, thus allowing for the exploration of unfamiliar paths.

Support internal locus of control - this means giving users the perception that they are in charge of the system and it responds to their actions accordingly.

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.