HCI Design Heuristics




The Eight Golden Rules, Shneidermann, 1998):
  • Strive for consistency
    sequens of actions in similar situations, identical terminologi in menus, prompts etc.,

  • Enable frequent users to use shortcuts

  • Offer informative feedback
    for every user actions there should be system feedback.

  • Design dialogs to yield closure
    sequences of actions should be organized into groups with a beginning, middle, and end.

  • Offer error prevention and simple error handling
    to prevent serious errors (e.g prefer menu selection to form fillin), minimize retyping forms,..

  • Permit easy reversal of actions

  • Support internal locus control
    operators should be in charge (no surprises, difficulty to obtain information,..)

  • Reduce short-term memory load
    human short-term memory handles 7 +-2 chunks.

More to read

  • Shneiderman, 1998, "Designing the User Interface". Addison-Wesley Longman Inc., Reading Massachusetts. (638 pp). See also http://www.aw.com/DTUI/. Nielsen J., Mack R., 1994, "Usability Inspection Methods". John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. (413 pp.)



  • ©Per Christiansson, 1.2.2000