Designing the Moment: Web Interface Design Concepts in Action

Appendix . The Keys to Great Design

In Designing the Obvious, I described seven core tenets of great Web application design and how to apply them to any project. I said, to design great applications, we need to:

• Build only what’s absolutely necessary

• Quickly turn beginning users into intermediates

• Prevent errors whenever possible and handle the errors we cannot prevent gracefully

• Reduce and refine interactions and task flows until even the most complicated applications are clear and understandable

• Design to support a specific activity

• Make constant, incremental improvements to our processes and applications

• Ignore the demands of users and stick to a vision

These statements have guided me through project after project, proving to be an essential list of ...