NEVER forget these simple rules. Every computer application with a user interface will benefit from them.

It’s really worth it. People will love you for it. Trust me 😉

I personally find that using an ordered list is somewhat misleading. Every point should be considered with equal importance. That’s why I will change to “ol” tag to an “ul” tag now 😉

• Strive for consistency. As we shall see below, it is important for a user interface to be consistent on many levels. For example, screen layouts should be consistent from one screen to another. In an environment using a graphical user interface (GUI), this also implies consistency from one application to another.
• Enable frequent users to use shortcuts. Frequent users (or, power users) may be turned off by overly tedious procedures. Allow those users a less tedious procedure for accomplishing a given task.
• Offer informative feedback. Users need to see the consequences of their actions. If a user enters a command but the computer does not show that it is either processing or has processed that command, this can leave the user confused and disoriented.
• Design dialogues to yield closure. Interacting with a computer is somewhat like a dialogue or conversation. Every task should have a beginning, a middle and an end. It is important for the user to know when a task is at its end. The user needs to have the feeling that a task has reached closure.
• Offer simple error handling. User errors should be designed into the system. Another way of stating this is that no user action should be considered an error that is beyond the ability of the system to manage. If the user makes a mistake, the user should receive useful, concise and clear information about the nature of the mistake. It should be easy for the user to undo his or her mistake.
• Permit easy reversal of actions. More generally, users must be permitted to undo what they have done, whether it is in the nature of an error or not.
• Support internal locus of control. User satisfaction is high when the user feels that he or she is in control and user satisfaction is low when the user feels that the computer is in control. Design interfaces to reinforce the feeling that the user is the focus of control in the human-computer interaction.
• Reduce short-term memory load. Human short-term memory is remarkably limited. Psychologists often quote Miller’s law to the effect that short-term memory is limited to seven discrete pieces of information. Do everything possible to free the user’s memory burden. For example, instead of asking the user to type in the name of a file which is going to be retrieved, present the user with a list of files currently available.

See page 74-75 Scheiderman: Designing the User Interface, 3rd

• Misconception #1: modal editing
• Misconception #2: it’s not all about regular expressions
• Misconception #3: you gotta be nuts and/or a genius to use it
• Misconception #4: hjkl to move around?
• Misconception #5: since you are thinking 90% of the time, and editing 10%, the productivity gain might be there, but it’s useless anyway
• Misconception #6: it’s just sticking to a disappearing past
• Correct-conception #1: steep learning curve

Tickled your interest? Looky there!

About these homes and at the intersections of the roads in this nomadic ‘city’ are the gardens. Each is unique. One may centre around an unusually-shaped stump or an arrangement of stones or a graceful bit of wood. They may contain fragrant herbs or bright flowers or any combination of plants. One notable one has at its heart a bubbling spring of steaming water. Here grow plants with fleshy leaves and exotically-scented flowers, denizens of some warmer clime brought here to delight the mountain-dwellers with their mystery. Often visitors leave gifts in the gardens when they depart, a wooden carving or a graceful pot or perhaps merely an arrangement of bright pebbles. The gardens belong to no one, and all tend them.

Robin Hobb, Assassins Quest.
Great Britain: Harper Voyager, 1998

When rading this passage of this book (which is part of the Farseer Trilogy) I could not help but think about Open Source projects. If you did not had the same thought when reading the text, go read it again. It is a beautiful analogy.

Note: If any directly involved party feels that any copyright claims have been violated by posting this, please leave a comment. I will take this text down if so requested.