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There are some principles in interaction design that should be followed. It is no crime to break the rules – but you should have a good reason to do so. During the years quite may of them emerged. I collected and explained the ones that I consider as important and easy to apply. | There are some principles in interaction design that should be followed. It is no crime to break the rules – but you should have a good reason to do so. During the years quite may of them emerged. I collected and explained the ones that I consider as important and easy to apply. | ||
=== | ===Using real world knowledge=== | ||
It eases learning to uses a new product if the can build on previous knowledge. This is a big influence on "intuitiveness". If the product's use demands to learn a lot this is perceived as cumbersome and complex. | |||
There are many metaphors around when you take a look at your computer's applications. The most times you will use metaphors by choosing a suitable name or icon for a function or | One way to ease the dealing with a something new is to suggests that it works similarly to something the user already knows. This is often done to transferring real world principles to software interfaces and is also known as using a "metaphor". Like metaphors in language the metaphor transfers some aspects while some are not transferred - that's often good: if you do otherwise and try to transfer every single aspect you often end up with a use that has no advantages over the real world thing the metaphor is drawing from but is far more difficult to use. | ||
There are many metaphors around when you take a look at your computer's applications. The most times you will use metaphors by choosing a suitable name or icon for a function or designing the workflow like a well known process. Though here are two examples of well known metaphors that almost rule the way we deal with the applications they are used in: | |||
* '''The Desktop: ''' A classic Metaphor. Like in you real desktop you can put documents you currently deal with, on your desktop and organize your workspace. Many aspects of a real world desktop were not transferred for good reasons. The recycling bin e.g. is usually not seen on top of your real world desktop. But it is pretty useful that it is on your computer's desktop. | * '''The Desktop: ''' A classic Metaphor. Like in you real desktop you can put documents you currently deal with, on your desktop and organize your workspace. Many aspects of a real world desktop were not transferred for good reasons. The recycling bin e.g. is usually not seen on top of your real world desktop. But it is pretty useful that it is on your computer's desktop. |