What are some basic tenets of interface design? [closed]

Answer 1

1. Don't interrupt the user with pop-up dialogs. Show some feedback that the user can see and provide a way for them to deal with the issue when they choose to.

2. "The principle of least surprise".

3. Apply sensible defaults

4. Show response to user inputs within half a second.

Answer 2

Don't forget keyboard accessibility, and more generally accessibility for vision-impaired people (this is why a great many cool-looking UIs actually suck).

Also, Alan Cooper (of Visual Basic fame) said "don't put might before will", which means you shouldn't make it easy for people to do the things they might do while making it difficult for them to do the things they will do with your software.

Answer 3

This doesn't exactly meet your requirements for a bullet list, but I'd still recommend reading Mark Miller's The Essence of Great UI - An Overview, Why is Great UI so hard to achieve?, Great UI, Clarity, and Information Relevance, Great User Interfaces, Clarity, and Information in Parallel and Great UI: Clarity and Color on the Presentation Layer.

He also talks about some of the same concepts in the dnrTV episodes Mark Miller on The Science of a Great User Experience Part 1 and Part 2.