Hmm. Need some context here please!
Sure thing, easy. Because interactive design patterns are all over the web in fact. And they infest (the best) desktop software too. Why are some applications easier to use than others? Laregly because the designer has lstened, and looked and paid attention and incorporated interactive design patterns in their work.
Examples |
One of the best-known ID patterns is "undo", i.e. the repeatable solution to the problem of "going wrong" |
- The problem - a user may perform an action that they later want to reverse
- The context - any software system where restoring the state after an erroneous action is relatively hard to do by hand, e.g. when it requires several actions
- The principle - error management
- The solution - let the users reverse their last actions. Maintain a queue of executed commands and allow the user to undo at least the last couple of actions. Show the history of commands so that users know what they have done. If a command has side effects that cannot be undone, warn the user before executing the command
- The rationale - offering the possibility to always undo actions gives users a comforting feeling. They can explore, make mistakes and easily go some steps back, which facilitates learning the application's functionality. It also often eliminates the need for annoying warning messages since most actions will not be permanent
- The examples - Adobe Photoshop CS2, Office applications
Entering the IA memeosphere
In web terms, when an interactive design pattern (I'm ging to use IDP for now) becomes sufficiently well established in the IA memeosphere, it becomes an article of "best practise".
This is the unwritten (but nonetheless highly canonical, according to some) body of lore that lays down the law on what is good and what is bad about any given website design (I'm being a little cynical here). There are many such articles (I almost said "of faith"). Here are a couple of the most obvious (and I've thrown in a few glaring bloopers (qua usability fashion disasters) just to keep you on your toes :)
Common web IDPs |
Search is always docked top-right |
Primary navigation is always less than seven (7) items |
Websites should always have a LHS navigation |
Application login should always include username, password, forgotten username and forgotten password links, benefits of registration and login as a minimum |
All navigation should be graphics |
Everything Google does is fabulous |
Resources
These are good. So I've been told. Sheesh. Got time to read?
Good books on IDP | Borchers, J. (2001) Pattern Approach to Interaction Design. John Wiley and Sons. |
Graham, I. (2003) A Pattern Language for Web Usability. Pearson Education |
Norman, Donald A. (1988) The Design of Everyday Things. New York, Doubleday |
Tidwell, J. (2005) Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design
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