User Centered

kmaage has injected "usability principles" into the comments and posts of this site for quite some time. I figured all of these nuggets should be centralized.

(sorry for calling you out like this kmaage- I've been wanting to gather these up for awhile now)

...so now you can order the entire set in this limited edition blog posting. Each Usability Principle has been digitally remastered and mixed... act now while supplies last and you'll get first access to the next usability principle he has brewing up!*

Please read the accompanying posts for full contexts/understanding.

• Accommodate the user's desired task order
  
  
• Assist users whenever human cognitive deficiencies are well known
  
  
• Do everything possible to avoid ambiguous input contexts..Because you never really know where the user is focusing their attention
  
  
• Watch users. Study them. See what they do
  
  
• Standard interactions let a user "skip" frustrating re-thinking
  
  
• Satisficing. The design we have now works well enough, and whatever small improvements could be made on paper, the overall result is negative because it erodes an established standard
  
  
• The user owns the interface. They control screen sizes, font sizes, colors. Your controls must always respect these settings and do intelligent things based on how the user chooses to arrange things.
  

*You must read the site daily for kmaage's postings. There is no guarantee that kmaage will ever post again. kmaage has no idea I googled up all his postings and slapped them on the front page. Offer not valid in Connecticut or Rhode Island. Applying kmaage's usability principles directly to your forehead will not bestow you with usability knowledge. If kmaage's usability principles cause you to think for more than 4 hours, please consult your physician.