Usability: The Art of Making Things Slightly Less Awful

Principle 2: Don't Make Me Think!

When you're designing for usability, you want to reduce cognitive overhead. Make sure your users don't have to do any more thinking than absolutely necessary.

Think of it like ordering a sandwich. You want to be able to just say "Give me a sandwich" and get exactly what you want, not "Okay, you want the sandwich, but you also want me to ask you what kind of bread you want, and what kind of meat you want, and what kind of cheese you want, and...". Just give me the sandwich, already!

So here's what you do:

1. Reduce the number of decisions your users have to make.
2. Make it easy to understand what's happening.
3. Test, test, test!

Next Principle: Consistency is Key

Previous Principle: Visibility

Or, if you're feeling really adventurous, try Optional Features for a real brain-twister.