• Clarity
The interface avoids ambiguity by making everything clear
through language, flow, hierarchy and metaphors for visual
elements.
• Concision
It’s easy to make the interface clear by overclarifying and labeling
everything, but this leads to interface bloat, where there is just too
much stuff on the screen at the same time.
• Familiarity
Something is familiar when you recall a previous encounter
you’ve had with it.
What makes a great user interface?
• Responsiveness
This means a couple of things. First, responsiveness means speed: a
good interface should not feel sluggish. Secondly, the interface
should provide good feedback to the user about what’s happening.
• Consistency
Keeping your interface consistent across your application is
important because it allows users to recognize usage patterns.
• Aesthetics
Making something look good will make the time your users spend
using your application more enjoyable; and happier users can only
be a good thing.
• Efficiency
Time is money, and a great interface should make the user
more productive through shortcuts and good design. After
all, this is one of the core benefits of technology:
• Forgiveness
Everyone makes mistakes, and how your application handles
those mistakes will be a test of its overall quality. Is it easy to
undo actions? Is it easy to recover deleted files?