Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules

“A picture is worth a thousand words. An interface is worth a thousand pictures”
–Ben Shneiderman–

Shneiderman’s eight golden rules are heuristics that are applicable to most design situations. They cover all the important principles of the interface design we studied in the previous lesson. These eight golden rules are as follows:

Note: Try to relate these principles to the abstract usability principles we studied in the last lesson.

Strive for consistency

Similar situations should have consistent sequences of actions. Colors, font, style, layout, etc. should be consistent throughout the interface. The information displayed should be consistent as well. Confirmation notifications and other exceptions should be limited in number and understandable.

Here is an example of an online shopping website. An item has been added to the cart but the cart icon on the top right corner still displays zero items in the cart. This is not consistent.