Rules and Guidelines for Human-Centered Interfaces, Explained

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Rules and Guidelines for Human-Centered Interfaces

Software Engineering · Chapter 10: User Interface Design: Principles, Guidelines, and ImplementationSection 10.2 · lesson 67 of 1037 min · free with a free account

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In this lesson

Interaction, display, and data entry guidelines that catch what the golden rules miss.

  • Explain how detailed guidelines differ from the golden rules
  • Identify general interaction and information display guidelines
  • Identify data entry guidelines
  • Apply the guidelines to diagnose a real interface

Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (954 words). Read along, or search it.

User Interface Design: Principles, Guidelines, and Implementation

Rules and Guidelines for Human-Centered Interfaces

The golden rules describe a philosophy. Keep the user in control, reduce what they must remember, and stay consistent. This section covers the next layer down. Detailed guidelines for general interaction, information display, and data entry. They are specific enough to catch problems the golden rules alone would miss.

A Checkout Form

Nothing Broken, Everything Bad

Picture a checkout form that seems, in spirit, to follow the golden rules. It looks consistent, and does not obviously overload anyone's memory. Yet clicking back loses everything already typed. An error message reads only, error four hundred. And the country field is a two hundred item list, in no particular order. None of this technically breaks a golden rule. All of it is still bad.

The Next Layer Down

From Philosophy to Checkable Guidelines

The golden rules describe the why of a human-centered interface, at a broad level. Detailed guidelines describe the how, at a level granular enough to check against a real interface. They are organized around three areas. General interaction covers how a user works with the system, moment to moment. Information display covers how the system presents what a user needs to see. And data entry covers how a user gets information into the system. These are not a separate philosophy. They are the same commitments, made concrete enough to check against a specific screen, form, or message.

Table 1

General Interaction Guidelines

General interaction guidelines govern how a user works with the system. The same action should be invoked the same way everywhere, so users do not relearn familiar actions. Every action should produce feedback, so users are never left wondering whether anything happened. Actions that are hard to reverse should require confirmation, and actions should be reversible wherever feasible. The current state should always be apparent, so users know where they are, and what mode they are in. And the interface should offer shortcuts for frequent users, without intimidating occasional ones.

Confirmation

An Irreversible Action

Here is what confirmation looks like in practice. Without it, a user clicks delete account, and the account is gone. One misplaced click, with no way back. With it, the interface asks, delete your account permanently? This cannot be undone. And the user can cancel. The guideline costs one extra click. And it prevents an entire class of accidental, permanent mistakes.

Table 2

Information Display Guidelines

Information display guidelines govern how the system presents what a user needs to see. Display only what is relevant to the current context, not everything the system happens to know. Use consistent labels, units, and formats throughout, so values are never misread. Let the user choose the level of detail where practical, such as a summary view alongside a detailed one. Match the visual format, a table, a chart, or a list, to the actual nature of the data. And write error and status messages in specific, plain language, stating what happened and what to do next.

Error Messages

A Vague Error vs. a Useful One

Here is the difference a message makes. Error four hundred leaves the user guessing. Something went wrong, but what, and what now? Compare that with, the card number is one digit short. Check it and try again. The second message names the problem, and the next step. That is what the guideline asks for. What happened, and what to do next, in plain language, rather than a code or a generic label.

Table 3

Data Entry Guidelines

Data entry guidelines govern how a user gets information into the system. Minimize the actions required. Do not ask for what the system can infer, or already has on record. Keep entry consistent with display, so a user never has to translate between two formats for the same kind of value. Deactivate commands or fields that do not apply right now, rather than accepting invalid input and catching it afterward. Let the user control the flow, with an easy way to find and fix a mistake. And offer help specific to the action being performed, not a single generic help page.

Table 4

The Checkout Form, Diagnosed

Now back to the checkout form, read against the guidelines. The unsorted, two hundred item country list violates the data entry guideline to minimize the effort of entering data. Back discarding everything typed violates a general interaction guideline, reducing what a user must redo after a mistake. Error four hundred violates the information display guideline for specific, constructive messages. And charging the payment with no confirmation violates a general interaction guideline. Confirm actions that are hard to reverse. Each problem traces cleanly to one specific guideline, in one specific category.

Use Judgment

Diagnostic Tools, Not a Rigid Checklist

These guidelines are diagnostic tools, not a checklist to satisfy mechanically. Suppose a designer adds a confirmation dialog to every single button, even harmless, reversible ones like toggling a filter. Confirmation now appears so often that it carries no information. Users learn to click through it without reading. And that includes the genuinely destructive actions the guideline was meant to protect. Used with judgment, the guidelines pinpoint exactly what is wrong with an interface, and in which category.

Key Terms

The Vocabulary of This Section

Let's lock in the key terms. A general interaction guideline governs how a user works with the system, moment to moment. An information display guideline governs how the system presents what a user needs to see. A data entry guideline governs how a user gets information into the system. Feedback is a response confirming an action had an effect. Reversibility is being able to undo an action after it is taken. And context-sensitive help is help specific to the action a user is performing, rather than a single generic reference.

Key Takeaways

What to Carry Forward

To pull this together. Detailed guidelines make the broad golden rules concrete enough to check against a real interface. General interaction guidelines cover feedback, reversibility, and confirming irreversible actions. Information display guidelines cover relevance, consistency, and specific, constructive messages. Data entry guidelines cover minimizing effort, and keeping entry consistent with display. And they work best as diagnostic tools, applied with judgment, not mechanically.

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Rules and Guidelines for Human-Centered Interfaces

How do UI design guidelines differ from the golden rules of interface design?
The golden rules describe the why of a human-centered interface at a broad level, while detailed guidelines describe the how at a level specific enough to check against a real screen. Guidelines fall into three areas: general interaction, information display, and data entry. A checkout form can seem to follow the golden rules yet still lose typed data on back, show a vague error, and offer an unsorted 200-item country list.
What are general interaction guidelines in UI design?
General interaction guidelines govern how a user works with a system moment to moment. The same action should be invoked the same way everywhere, every action should produce feedback, hard-to-reverse actions should require confirmation, and actions should be reversible where feasible. The current state and mode should always be apparent, and shortcuts should help frequent users without intimidating occasional ones.
How should error messages be written in a user interface?
Error messages should state, in specific plain language, what happened and what the user should do next. A message like "error 400" leaves the user guessing. A message like "The card number is one digit short. Check it and try again." names the problem and the next step. This is one of the information display guidelines, alongside showing only relevant information and using consistent labels, units, and formats.
What are data entry guidelines for user interfaces?
Data entry guidelines govern how users get information into a system. Minimize the actions required and do not ask for what the system can infer or already has. Keep entry formats consistent with display formats. Deactivate fields or commands that do not apply, rather than accepting invalid input and catching it later. Let users find and fix mistakes easily, and offer help specific to the action being performed.

About the Software Engineering course

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Software Engineering (Computer Science 301) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
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