Familiarity

• Employ familiar concepts and use a language that is familiar to the user.

• Keep the interface natural, mimicking the user's behavior patterns.

• Use real-world metaphors.

Forgiveness

• Tolerate and forgive common and unavoidable human errors.

• Prevent errors from occurring whenever possible.

• Protect against possible catastrophic errors.

• When an error does occur, provide constructive messages.

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Predictability

• The user should be able to anticipate the natural progression of each task.

o Provide distinct and recognizable screen elements.

o Provide cues to the result of an action to be performed.

• All expectations should be fulfilled uniformly and completely.

Recovery

A system should permit:

- Commands or actions to be abolished or reversed.

- Immediate return to a certain point if difficulties arise.

Ensure that users never lose their work as a result of:

- An error on their part.

- Hardware, software, or communication problems

Responsiveness

The system must rapidly respond to the user's requests Provide immediate 

acknowledgment for all user actions:

- Visual.

- Textual

- Auditory.

Transparency

Permit the user to focus on the task or job, without concern for the mechanics of the 

interface.

- Workings and reminders of workings inside the computer should be invisible to 

the user.

Simplicity

Provide as simple an interface as possible.

Five ways to provide simplicity: