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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