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hungryhobbit
I liked the earlier page in this series, but this one feels kind of half-assed. Consider many of the first entries, like this one:
"Cognitive Bias - A systematic error of thinking or rationality in judgment that influence our perception"
That's not a law! It's barely even a useful concept in the form presented here!
Instead of being a useful collection of rules a UI designer/dev can apply, this just feels like the author picked some terms, looked up their definition in the dictionary, and threw it all together so he could sell posters.
RugnirViking
this. It's not really anything. I was interested in "chunking" but learned nothing here. There are no examples, no actual explanation of how to apply the laws or what breaks the laws, its just a general description. It could be a bullet point list and hold about as much information.
mexicocitinluez
> There are no examples,
Yea, not a great decision to exclude visual examples when talking about the UI. It's too subjective to my non-designer brain to be even remotely useful.
rawoke083600
These are nice (and ofc not set in stone).
Me not being a "traditional or natural" designer, I like to have a set of best practises recipes or laws. These laws might be difficult to constantly hold in your head. I think this is a PERFECT starting point for AI to "bulk check" some screens.
Honestly I would map it to a short-cut, like I map "format source code" to a shortcut. If you building business software a set of laws or (shortcut mapped to them) can be really useful as a sanity check.
In fact I just did that:
- Downloaded the UX Laws as a screenshot
- Downloaded a screenshot of a dashboard (a userform might have worked better)
- Asked ChatGPT and Claude to do a review with those laws in mind and then to create a new mockup based on those recommendations
Project 1: CMMS Dashboard For Maintenance (fast food chain)
- Dashboard old: https://imgur.com/a/R3wrMpr
- Dashboard new (Claude): https://imgur.com/a/cYq4gE8
Project 2: https://swellslots.com (Surf Forecast App, arcade look and feel)
- Forecast old: https://imgur.com/a/W3daZrP
- Forecast new: https://imgur.com/a/kNi2Nvg
abdullahkhalids
I feel like for Project 1 at least, the old dashboard is better than the new one.
The problem with a set of mutually conflicting laws like this is that good designers are able to intuitively understand which ones to ignore and which ones to use for a particular project.
hermitcrab
"Content not available in your region.
Learn more about Imgur access in the United Kingdom"
j0ej0ej0e
will someone please think of the children?
fugaziboutit
In the first project, it seems that the old dashboard is intended for a manager doing reporting while the new dashboard is intended for a staff member actually handling the tickets. Did you have anything at all in the prompt with a specific purpose/role, or was it left open?
Rygian
Law #0: don't reflowb or otherwise move around the UI element I'm going to click on.
sunaookami
HATE Google Search for that, this dumb "people also ask" and the Gemini answer that takes ages to generate and pushes the whole content down.
magiclaw
This. I'm not a fan of expanding links, like when a user hovers over a small button with an icon, and it expands to reveal the full button name, but the content around it (like other buttons) shift because of the size change.
Findecanor
I sometimes use a trackball — without a "scroll wheel".
So in Google Maps on the web, I'd have to click the + and - buttons on the screen repeatedly to zoom in and out.
But those buttons don't always stay put. There is a status bar underneath it, that sometimes contains text so long that it wraps: and then that pushes the buttons up.
So sometimes, I click + + + - . Very annoying.
bs7280
This drives me up a wall. Short of UX and front end devs taking this seriously, ive always wondered if theres a way for an OS level / browser level UX library to keep track of the "clickable state" 20ms ago (configurable to the user's reaction time liking) so the thing I click on is what my brain thought it was clicking on.
The better solution is developers and designers taking a sense of pride and craftmanship in this sort of thing. So many of my least favorite interfaces are presumably designed and implemented in an environment with a gigabit connection to their apps backend so they never catch it.
wwweston
This one has somehow found its way into the iOS photos app of all places. Something is deeply amiss in the industry if the corporate avatar of design misses that one.
itronitron
also: don't distract with unnecessary and unrelated graphics
arikrahman
It's a bit ironic the laws of UX is presented this way with gaudy graphics that are cumbersome to scroll through. They take up a lot of screen real estate and would disrupt what the typical user is used to.
I would recommend reading another headline on this forum in regards to idiomatic design: [[https://essays.johnloeber.com/p/4-bring-back-idiomatic-desig...][#4: Bring Back Idiomatic Design - by John Loeber]]
anilakar
That site itself violates at least "similarity", "proximity" and "common region" as everything is sorted in one alphabetical list.
bryanrasmussen
but if we don't move around the skip ad link as we first detect your mouse moving towards it we will never make any money!
memco
I think this is a great resource.
However, per item #2:
> Choice Overload
> The tendency for people to get overwhelmed when they are presented with a large number of options, often used interchangeably with the term paradox of choice.
There's 30 "laws" which are all text-based content buried under 30 irrelevant pictures that up half the visual space on the page.
It looks pretty, but it isn't an effective way to study these.
arnitly
Created a skill file for anyone interested in leveraging these for their projects- https://gist.github.com/ajaitly11/12f98f42e74697b015eb996f70...
LudwigNagasena
The UX of large cards and very abstract images feels poor to me. And I am sure there are a bunch of laws there on that very page that explain why.
vjvjvjvjghv
Maybe add "stability"? Don't constantly change things for change's sake or to follow a new fad.
amelius
Don't use meaningless icons.
Present information in a linear flow rather than a tree where users are forced to open every box.
Don't present opinions as facts.
Findecanor
Fitt's Law does not just apply to screens but also to input devices. That is why the keys on the outskirts of a keyboard are larger than other keys.
... except for the anorectic vertical Return keys on Apple keyboards with any European layout: which is a 1×1 key with a small vertical sliver. Japanese "JIS" keyboard layout also has a vertical Return key, and Apple made that properly sized, however.
nsvd2
Seems like this is not a connection of laws but a glossary of terms.
hyperhello
Bad UX is anything that causes user frustration. However, engineers are taught that expressing frustration is uncivil.
InfiniteAscent
Users and designers should unite and beat engineers into submission.
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This one pops up a lot - I love the design and poster aspect. I am always amazed how many of these 'Laws' trace back to Nielsen Norman Group data and research over the years. Many UX trends are even named after them! Jakobs law... Norman Door. UX professionals are being greatly influenced by this focused observer set. Maybe just my opinion, but modern UX and HCI theory is being held back day by day due to a set of gentle rules. Specifically, 'Rules' from exposed patterns across user experiences in Broadcast and other non-interactive media.