Designed for Use, 2nd Edition

If You Can’t Avoid Preferences

If you truly can’t avoid preferences, make sure that the default choice for each preference works well for a majority of your users. Most people stick with the default values and never change them. Usability expert Jakob Nielsen points out:^[101]

Many previous studies, including my own, have shown that the top few entries in search listings get the preponderance of clicks and that the number one hit gets vastly more clicks than anything else. (...) Users rely on defaults in many other areas of user interface design. For example, they rarely utilize fancy customization features, making it important to optimize the default user experience, since that’s what most users stick to.

Give each preference a reasonable label ...