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Good Rules for Bad Interface Design

by: pidoco1 on Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 Time: 3:34 AM

In the internet you can find a plethora of lists with helpful usability design guidelines(https://pidoco.com/en/benefits/products/remote-usability-tester) and patterns. There are so many that it’s not really worth writing about. But today I have found something really cool! A great source for web designers who try just not to get it right: The ‘Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces’ by the SAP design guild.

To be honest, so much humor on that topic I did not expect from the SAP guys (and who ever has seen SAP in action knows that they still can improve their usability a little)! Anyway, here are the TOP 10 rules for bad usability design (but there are more on their website). Check Usability Testing(https://pidoco.com/en/benefits/products/remote-usability-tester):

Rule # 1: Keep the users busy doing unnecessary work!
Reasoning: Users want to be helpful, even to computers. Provide them with sufficient opportunities to live out their altruism – it makes them feel good.

Rule # 2: Do not obey standards!
Reasoning: Standards lead users to exhibiting rigid habits and develop certain expectations as to the applications. Train them a lesson for real life: today's users need, to be flexible and open-minded.

Rule # 3: Make it slow!
Reasoning: Most offices have become very hectic and stressful these days. An avalanche of phone calls, emails and more hail down on office workers. Slow software presents the opportunity to step back and live more Buddhist peace of mind to office lives.

Rule # 4: Use abbreviations wherever possible (also when there’s enough space for complete terms)
Reasoning: Abbreviations make an application look more professional, particularly if you create abbreviations that are new or replace commonly used ones.

Rule # 5: Educate users in technical language
Reasoning: Lifelong learning is hot and people get used to it. Don’t disappoint them and take this opportunity away from them on your site. Moreover, sociologists bemoan that people's vocabulary is more and more reducing. Applications with a challenging vocabulary can go against this trend.

Rule # 6: Hide important and often-used features from the users' view
Reasoning: When you hide the goodies (like the milk in a supermarket) in the last corner of your site, people will explore more of your site and buy finally more (also called ‘IKEA effect’)!

Rule # 7: Make your application mouse-only and do not offer any keyboard shortcuts.
Reasoning: This will make your application completely inaccessible to visually impaired users. Therefore, you can leave out all the other accessibility stuff as well. That will save you a lot of development time.

Rule # 8: Make using your application a real challenge!
Reasoning: This teaches people to take more risks, which is important particularly in economically harder times.

Rule # 9: Keep away from end users!
Reasoning: You are the expert and know what users need – you have the experience, you paid for the education, so why would they know better anyway?

Rule #10: Spread the message of bad examples and live it!
Reasoning: Examples are a perfect teaching method. But as we all know, you learn most from failure, so show your bad examples – they allure most.

So much for that, find the complete list on: www.sapdesignguild.org/community/design/golden_rules.asp

About the Author

Pidoco.com – Interface Design(https://pidoco.com/en), Wireframe Software, Interface Design Software, Clickable Wireframes(https://pidoco.com/en/benefits/clickable_interactive_wireframes) and GUI Prototyping Tool. A GUI Design Interface Software for Clickable Wireframes! Wireframe creating and GUI prototyping tool. Fast wireframe creation and remote website usability testing lead to an improved conversion!

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