Textbook of Usability

Shneiderman's 8 golden rules of interface design, first published by Ben Shneiderman in 1986, are a set of principles for designing interactive systems. They predate Nielsen's heuristics and overlap with them significantly but emphasise consistency, control, and the reduction of memory load.

The eight rules:

1. Strive for consistency — identical terminology, colour, layout, and action sequences in similar situations
2. Seek universal usability — recognise the needs of diverse users (novices, experts, ages, abilities)
3. Offer informative feedback — every user action should produce system feedback proportional to its significance
4. Design dialogs to yield closure — group actions into sequences with clear beginnings, middles, and ends
5. Prevent errors — design so users cannot make serious errors (grey-out, constrain, confirm)
6. Permit easy reversal of actions — undo relieves anxiety and encourages exploration
7. Keep users in control — make the system responsive to user initiative, not surprising
8. Reduce short-term memory load — keep displays simple and consolidate information

Shneiderman's rules are formulated as design guidance rather than evaluation criteria. They are especially useful at the start of a project, when they shape the overall approach to interaction, rather than as a checklist for review. The principle of closure (rule 4) is distinctive — it emphasises the psychological importance of clear completion signals, a consideration sometimes missed in other frameworks.