moodLearning Wiki

Principles of user interface design

• Clarity is job #1
• Interfaces exist to enable interaction
• Conserve attention at all costs
• Keep users in control
• Direct manipulation is best
• One primary action per screen
• Keep secondary actions secondary
• Provide a natural next step
• Appearance follows behavior (aka form follows function)
• Consistency matters
• Strong visual hierarchies work best
• Smart organization reduces cognitive load
• Highlight, don’t determine, with color
• Progressive disclosure
• Help people inline
• A crucial moment: the zero state
• Existing problems are most valuable
• Great design is invisible
• Build on other design disciplines
• Interfaces exist to be used

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