Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

Conventions

Let’s say you want to give people the security they need to freely explore your application. To achieve that, you want to implement a simple way for them to undo their actions.

Designing a user interface for “undo” is easy if you’re working on a desktop platform like Windows or Mac OS X. There are conventions and guidelines that explain how to do it. Here is a screenshot of BusyCal (at http://www.busymac.com).

If your product has a natural user interface, on the other hand, it’s a lot harder. There aren’t many conventions or rules that help with this.^[77] You have to come up with your own design, preferably something that feels “natural.” ...