[thelist] UI Standards

[Madhu Menon]

At 05:19 AM 01-08-02, Frank wrote:
>Does anyone know of a set of user interface standards that are generally
>accepted?

There are UI guidelines for Windows. Is that what you're referring to? They
address things like what you should use a combo box, where you should use a
checkbox instead of a radio button, etc. etc. (I'm simplifying here)

But I suspect that's not what you're looking for.

There are entire books written on how to design good interfaces, Frank.
Certainly too many guidelines to list here. Some of them are UI Design
theory, while others are more instructional in nature. Mail me and I'll
send you a big list. ;)

Like aardvark said, you certainly can draw up a broad list of "heuristics"
(I hate that word) based on various laws and principles. Things like:

* Always use an element the way it was intended to be used. (So don't
trigger form actions when users click a radio button)
* Provide adequate feedback to the user about whether his action succeeded
or failed
* Make error messages helpful, specific, and suggest corrective measures.
Avoid technical jargon.
* Make use of perceived affordances (make buttons *look* like buttons)
* Group similar elements together (so all details related to shipping would
be under the "shipping" section)
* Make things bigger and visible (like aardvark said). Simple example: it's
very hard to click on the page numbers in a search results page. Usually,
numbers like "1" "2" and "3" are hyperlinked. This means you have to move
your mouse to a very small area that's hard to pinpoint exactly. Bad UI.
Replace that with "Page 1", "Page 2", and "Page 3", hyperlink that, and
it's much easier to click on them. It takes a bit more room, but it's worth
it. That's also why "Next >>" hyperlinked is better than ">>" hyperlinked.
Fitts's law.

Oh, the list goes on...

I believe Uncle Jakob does have a list of some heuristics on his site. If I
weren't so lazy, I'd find the URL for you. Yes, they're actually useful. :)

>For myself, I've based most of what I know on Apple's UI guidelines, and
>adapted them to the web.

Ah, but the Web has thing called "statelessness", which our desktop apps
don't have to endure. On the Web, you also have to wait for a while before
the page loads and the results of your actions are known. The Web is two
decades backwards in UI design, so not every guideline for a desktop
application will be appropriate. Adapt wisely. The Web has its own rules
and challenges.

Regards,

Madhu

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Madhu Menon
User Experience Consultant
e-mail: webguru at vsnl.net