UI Style Guides

User Interface Style Guides (Updated August 2008)

One of the primary resources for experts conducting Usability Evaluation or Usability Design Reviews is intimate knowledge and familiarity with industry standard User Interface Design Guidelines. At Experience Dynamics, we make it our business to keep ahead of industry demonstrated best practice and user interface design guidelines.

Note: We have helped many of our clients develop internal corporate user interface style guides and standards and currently offer this as a service.

General User Interface Design Style Guides

AJAX related Usability Guidelines (What is Ajax?)

• More Ajax Usability Guidelines
• Ten good practices for writing (AJAX) JavaScript in 2005
• AJAX Usability Guidelines and Ajax Patterns
• Related: How to add groovy Scriptaculous effects

Apple Usability Guidelines

• Apple Human Interface Guidelines for Mac OS X
• Apple User Experience Guides
• Apple User Experience Resources (Includes tools for extending Mac OS X)

Microsoft Windows Usability Guidelines

• Windows XP Guidelines for Applications
• Microsoft Vista User Experience (UI) Guidelines (NEW)

Sun Microsystems- Java related

• Java Look and Feel Guidelines (Version 1)
• Java Look and Feel Guidelines (Version 2)
• Java Look and Feel Guidelines: Advanced Topics

Java Swing related UI style guides

• A Java Swing GUI Framework
• Sun Java Look and Feel Class Reference
• Creating a Custom Look and Feel with Java Swing
• Using Java Swing’s Pluggable Look and Feel

Open Source Usability Guidelines

• Motif Style Guide
• KDE User Interface Guidelines
• Gnome Human Interface Guidelines 1.0

Corporate User Interface Standards and Guidelines (samples)

• Telstra Online Standards (WayBackWeb archived)
• Taligent Human Interface Guidelines
• Ameritech Graphical User Interface Standards and Design Guidelines (WayBackWeb archived)

Government funded Usability Guidelines

• MITRE Guidelines for Designing User Interface Software (US Airforce)
• Research based Web Design and Usability Guidelines (US Dept. of Health and Human Services)
• Usability.gov - Usability Guidelines
• Canadian Command Decision Aiding Technology (COMDAT) Operator-Machine Interface (OMI) Style Guide: Version 1.0 (PDF)
  

Gaming Devices (J2ME games)

• Nokia Top 10 Usability Guidelines for Games
• Nokia Top 10 Usability Guidelines for Enterprise Applications

Wireless and Mobile Usability Guidelines

• Openwave Top 10 Usability Guidelines for WAP Applications
• Blackberry and RIM wireless handheld UI Developers Guide (PDF)
• W3C Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 User Interface Guidelines

Tablet PC User Interface Guidelines (NEW)

• The Challenge of Designing Interfaces for the Tablet PC (WayBackWeb archived)
• Eight Essentials of Tablet User Interface Success (WayBackWeb archived)
• Eight More Rules of Tablet UI Success (WayBackWeb archived)

Accessibility Guidelines

• Introduction to Web Accessibility
• Techniques for Web content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• Section 508 overview of the legal requirements
• Section 508 Checklist
• Flash Accessibility guidelines

Adobe Flash

• Adobe Flash Usability and Testing

Other Usability and UI Guidelines

• Silicon Graphics Indigo Magic User Interface Guidelines
• Smith and Mosier HCI Guidelines (1984, yet amazingly pertinent still today)
• User Interface Design and Usability (links)

If you want to ask us a question regarding a user interface design issue with your web, software, wireless or product usability, just send us info@experiencedynamics.com

Related Resource:

Portland User Interface Special Interest Group Attend our usability peer learning group online. The If you are in the Portland (Oregon) area or would like to attend a web conference of this live monthly meeting, just let us know so we can arrange a place: 503-978-9183.