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Introduction
What are guidelines?
Guidelines represent the middle level of design guidance in
a progression from abstract principles to specific
conventions. Below are definitions and examples of each
level of guidance:
-
Principles--fundamental
ideals and beliefs used to guide decision making and
achieve a pervasive or overall result
Example: "Build on users' prior experience."
-
Guidelines--recommended
courses of action that are in support of a set of
principles and specific to a particular domain such as the
Web
Example: "Use Web navigation elements consistently."
-
Conventions--specific,
agreed-to, prescriptive design practices, typically in
support of a set of guidelines and principles
Example: "Use the IBM masthead across the entire IBM
site."
The Ease of Use Group
provides Web guidelines, and we also offer UI Design
Principles. You may find it useful to develop your own set
of conventions based on these guidelines. For example, IBM
has developed a set of guidelines and conventions for use in
building our own sites, available to IBM employees at
w3.ibm.com/standards.
How should these guidelines be used?
We developed these guidelines by studying a cross-section of
users and sites, but there may be contexts that we did not
examine. If you learn from your user feedback that a
different solution works better in your situation than one
we offer here, then of course you should do what works best
in your situation. To provide the best Web solutions, always
use these guidelines in conjunction with a user-centered
design process.
Note also that end users'
priorities may at times conflict with those of designers,
developers, or owners. In such cases, these guidelines will
advocate for the users' best interests. The authors
acknowledge that, in practice, factors other than the ease
of use enter into design decisions. Always be mindful,
nevertheless, of the potential impact of your decisions on
your users.
What are these guidelines based on?
These guidelines stem from four sources: from our experience
using the User-Centered Design (UCD) process to create the
IBM site; from user studies over the past few years of the
different sections of IBM site, including Shop IBM and this
Ease of Use site; from studies of users interacting with
non-IBM sites, such as sites that sell books, videos,
clothing, and computer products; and from the published
research of experts in the field.
How are these guidelines organized?
These guidelines are organized according to a process for
developing Web sites. The phases of this process are
Planning, Design, Production, and Maintenance. We also offer
a special section that focuses specifically on the topic of
e-commerce.
How can I print this information?
A "Print: Web Guidelines" button is provided at the bottom
of each page. This button links to a single page that
contains all the information in the Web Guidelines section.
You can then use your browser to print all the information
at one time | |
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