Shneiderman’s eight golden rules provide a convenient and succinct summary of the key principles of interface design. They are intended to be used during design but can also be applied.

• Strive for consistency in action sequences, layout, terminology, command use and so on.

• Enable frequent users to use shortcuts, such as abbreviations, special key sequences and macros, to perform regular, familiar actions more quickly.

• Offer informative feedback for every user action, at a level appropriate to the magnitude of the action.

• Design dialogs to yield closure so that the user knows when they have completed a task.

• Offer error prevention and simple error handling so that, ideally, users are prevented from making mistakes and, if they do, they are offered clear and informative instructions to enable them to recover.

• Permit easy reversal of actions in order to relieve anxiety and encourage exploration, since the user knows that he can always return to the previous state.

• Support internal locus of control so that the user is in control of the system, which responds to his actions.

• Reduce short-term memory load by keeping displays simple, consolidating multiple page displays and providing time for learning action sequences.