Shneiderman's 8 Rules: UI/UX Guide for Consistency

Designing for Humans: Shneiderman's 8 Rules to Modern Web Design

The advancement of web development regarding digitized marketing has brought about a surge in these domains. While on this path, we tend to ignore or forget the fundamental concepts of HCI. One of the most relevant concepts at this time derives from the brilliant Computer Scientist, Ben Shneiderman, who created the Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design. In the present time, a futuristic Dubai website designing company suspected about the mere presence of these rules in the interface would imagine adding them to digital evolution. While there are nth numbers of ways to interact with a system, these rules would make it so every touch, click or swipe of the screen would be seamless.

 

Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules

A modern website design company in Qatar pays particular attention to these rules because they can have a significant impact on any business’s online presence. Each rule addresses a separate issue having to do with user experience, ranging from constant user follow-up to error assistance. Below are the eight rules and their significance to today’s web design:

1. Aim for Consistency: Save the user’s cognitive energy by making navigation easy. Maintain the same actions, tone, and design throughout the website.

2. Enable Frequent Users to Use Shortcuts: Advanced users should be able to utilize keyboard shortcuts, macros, and function keys. While the basic format should also be maintained for beginners who are comfortable with a mouse.

3. Offer Informative Feedback: The system should immediately inform the user of an action taken, example a loader, spinner, success, or error message.

4. Design Dialogs to Yield Closure: Each task should make the user feel a sense of completion and ease to the next action.

5. Offer Simple Error Handling: The system should be designed in such a way that strenuous efforts should be taken to mitigate the risk of errors occurring. However, if an error occurs, the communication should be polite, resolution-oriented, and unambiguous. 

6. Allow Easy Reversal of Actions: The last action taken by the user should be easy to undo. This boosts the confidence of the users since they can freely play with the user interface without the fear of making a mistake that can be permanent. 

7. Support Internal Locus of Control: Users should feel they are controlling the interface. Allow them to control their actions and not the oppression of feeling that the system is ‘controlling’ them. 

8. Minimise Short Term Memory Load: Users should be able to switch from one interface to another with the same information without much hassle. The system should be able to recall information on their behalf.

 

Building User-Centric Experiences

Staying within these 8 rules allows a website design company in Saudi Arabia to go beyond developing a functional site. User experience becomes something that is beyond extraordinary. These are no longer hypothetical. They are actionable and concrete blocks to increased user engagement, better conversions, and more brand loyalty. In a time and space when users are presented with an array of choices, the ability of a user interface to offer seamless and predictable interactions is the best advantage to have in a competitive market.

If you wish to contribute to our blog, please email us on wispaztechnologies@gmail.com.

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