Articles

Design Tools

• My Design Tools – Part I
• My Design Tools – Part II
• UI Toolbox: Capturing and Editing Screenshots – Part I
• UI Toolbox: Capturing and Editing Screenshots – Part II

Simplification

• What Does "Simple" Mean?
• Anti-Simplification – How to Make Life Harder for Users
• Reducing Complexity
• Error Prevention Comes First
• Don't Let Your Interface Lie
• Don't Let Users Suffer from System Weaknesses

Interaction Design

• Did You Make Your Selection? – Part I
• Did You Make Your Selection? – Part II
• Did You Make Your Selection? – Part III
• Did You Make Your Selection? – Part IV
• The Software Works The Way I Think: Beyond Point and Click
• A Layman's View on Interaction Styles – Part I
• A Layman's View on Interaction Styles – Part II
• Selecting Objects By Attributes – Part I new
• Selecting Objects By Attributes – Part II new

Screen Design

• The Art of Hiding – Part I
• The Art of Hiding – Part II
• Screen Layout – Part I: General Considerations
• Screen Layout – Part II: Layout Hierarchy
• Screen Layout – Part III: Examples

Design Process

• The Construction Cycle – Another Way to "Organize" the Design Process
• User Feedback
• What Does User Integration Mean for Software Design?
• Mapping a Conceptual Interface to a Physical Interface

Design Tidbits

Updated: 03/13/2008

The Design Tidbits offer a growing selection of articles centered around UI and graphic design.

Recent Additions

User Interface Controls and Interaction Techniques of Horror

03/13/2008: We would like to start a collection of "controls and techniques of horror," that is, a selection of user interface controls and interaction techniques that terrorize users in a number of ways – be it that they annoy them, steal their time, mislead them, or whatever. We begin the collection with five examples, hoping that it will grow over time.

Read the article...

Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces

Updated 03/13/2008: People like to do just the opposite of what one is proposing. Therefore, we thought that it might be a good idea to promote bad user interface design and collect "Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces" – please help yourself (and do the opposite). We started this page with ten rules and are continually expanding our collection.

See the golden rules...

Selecting Objects By Attributes

03/10/2008: In this short series of two articles, our author looks at a fairly common task – namely the selection of one or more objects on the basis of their attributes – and presents a number of ways of performing it, ranging from a text-based, formal query statement to new visualization techniques. Once again, we will demonstrate how flexible user interface design can be and that user needs and requirements should ultimately determine which approach is chosen.

Read part I of the article... • Read part II of the article...

Universal Usability

12/05/2007: Universal usability is a fairly new concept in the user interface design field. This article explains what universal usability means and how it is related to similar concepts, such as universal access and universal design.

Read the article... • See also the Highlight Topic on Universal Usability...

Related Editorials

• Finding Common Ground...
• Performance – Merely a Technical Problem?
• To Err Is Human – A Two-Sided Issue...
• The Blessings of Large Displays...
• What Matters Most?
• What is an Application Design?
• Usability Levels – Three Ways to Care for Usability
• Stumbling Blocks for Good Application Design
• Which Type of Prototype?
• The Dilemma of Good and Bad Examples
• From GUIs to Narrative Interfaces – From Point-and-Click to Computers Telling Stories

Related Articles from Editions

• Cooper Interaction Design enjoys SAP
• Contextual Design at SAP
• What Does User Integration Mean for Software Design?
• User Feedback
• The Right Information Right on the Spot
• Self-Explaining Web Applications
• Portal Usability – Is There Such A Thing?
• Do Traditional Design Processes Apply to Portal Design?
• Creating an Interaction Design
• Portal Color Design to Support Visually Challenged Users
• Vision and Visual Disabilities – An Introduction (updated version)
• Making Web Pages Accessible – Questions and HTML Examples (updated version)
• Information Equivalence and More... (updated version)

Articles

Hierarchies

• Hierarchies - Categories vs. Vectors
• Fighting (with) Hierarchies –
  Part I: Basics
• Fighting (with) Hierarchies –
  Part II: Presentation
• Appendix: Fighting (with) Hierarchies – Presentation Techniques I
• Appendix: Fighting (with) Hierarchies – Presentation Techniques II

Visual Design

• Some Color Mysteries
• Some Mysteries of Colored Text
• Animation – The Chili Pepper of the Web
• Appendix: Definitions of the Most Common Types of Animation on the Web

Web, Web Applications, Web Design

• The Web – A Short Introduction
• An Introduction to Designing User Interface Controls at SAP
• From Dropdown Listboxes to Comboboxes
• List Box Tweaks (Part II)
• Concept Statements and Website Messages – Part I
• Concept Statements and Website Messages – Part II

Miscellany

• Adding Value to Your Interface by Using Simple Math and Matching
• How Much Documentation Do Applications Need? – A Simple Example
• Narrative User Interfaces
• Golden Rules for Bad User Interfaces
• Universal Usability
• User Interface Controls and Interaction Techniques of Horror new