Swimming in a sea of Norman essays...

I am only half way through this one but it is definitely worth sharing....
gestural_interfaces:_a_step_backwards_in_usability

"The new applications for gestural control in smart cellphones (notably the iPhone and the Android) and the coming arrival of larger screen devices built upon gestural operating systems (starting with Apple's iPad) promise even more opportunities for well-intended developers to screw things up."

There are several important fundamental principles of interaction design that are completely independent of technology:

·       Visibility (also called perceived affordances or signifiers)

·       Feedback

·       Consistency (also known as standards)

·       Non-destructive operations (hence the importance of undo)

·       Discoverability: All operations can be discovered by systematic exploration of menus

·       Scalability. The operation should work on all screen sizes, small and large.

·       Reliability. Operations should work. Period. And events should not happen randomly.


...and another (I could be here all day...) natural_user_interfaces_are_not_natural