These ten rules are derived Usability by Jakob Nielsen – one of the founders and directors of the company "Nielsen Norman Group", dedicated to providing advice in the field of usability. These rules he formulated in 1990, but despite this, they all still have not lost their relevance. In the original, their name sounds like "Ten Usability Heuristics", that is, by itself, it is difficult to be translated into Russian. No less complex in terms of translation, are also the rules themselves, because they are written too "un-American" and "much too English." But still, I tried to do the translation, and what came of it you can read below.
User must always be aware of what is happening in the system. In this case, the inverse relationship between the user and the system should be as logical and operational.
The system must communicate with the user in a language he understands. Using words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user in the real world is much more preferable than the use of specialized terms. This allows us to provide information in a more natural and logical form.
Users often make mistakes, so the system should always provide a clear "path of retreat," through which the user will need to make a minimum of body movements to correct his mistake. Give users the ability to cancel the action and return to the previously undone action.
Do not deceive your users, describing the same thing in different words and terms. Stick to the uniformity and follow the standards.
Even the best error messages will not be able to make the system as friendly as it will make well thought-out architecture that allows for these errors redotvraschat. Minimize the number of conditions, which may have made mistakes, but also requires the user to further confirm their actions, if he made a mistake.
Users do not tire, forcing him to remember a large number of objects, actions and options. This user does not have to keep in mind information, moving from one part to another. Instructions for using the system should always be in sight, or at least should be easily accessible from any part of the system.
Do not load the experienced users too much information, give them the opportunity to perform repetitive actions as may be quicker and easier. At the same time try to hide these features from the eyes of the inexperienced user.
Dialogues should not contain irrelevant or too little demand information. Each extra word makes the perception of relevant information more difficult.
Error messages should be expressed in plain language the user. They should be as close as possible to describe the problem and provide options for solving it.
Even if the system can be used without documentation, in the process of working with it may still need background information. Such documents should be drafted so that they can easily be found necessary. In addition, reference materials must be concise and contain only a specific guide to action.