Useful and effective interfaces are beautiful. Look at them as a UI designer, not as an art major. :-)
- Simplicity; as few choices as can accomplish the needs.
- Convention; follow patterns the users are already familiar with.
- Observation; watch the users, and smooth the places they have problems.
- Gentleness; write human-readable errors. Don't upset the users.
- Consistency; do things the same way everywhere in the application. Have one person write all of your text, or write a standard that text must meet.
