Jesse Skinner

Predictable design

Jonathan Snook just posted a nice example of why you should stick with what's predictable. When designing, there's a lot of temptation to go against the grain, to do something a little different than everybody else does it. Except, it makes your interface less predictable. And predictability is key for user friendliness. Whether it's underlines on hyperlinks, or simple navigation titles, you'll usually end up winning more points for usability than you ever will for creativity.

Published on January 24th, 2006. © Jesse Skinner

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Jesse Skinner

I'm Jesse Skinner, a freelance software engineer. Since 2001 I've been building web apps that last, and rescuing those that didn't. I'm available to take on one or two new clients. Here's how I work.

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