"Predictability is a collective of consistency, past experience, previous knowledge, and visual distinction."
This reminded me of page 46-49 of Norman's User Centered System Design on the interplay between Designer's model of a system and the user's mental model that develops while interacting with the system - and the degree to which predictability is enhanced when the designer is more attuned or explicitly invokes a metaphor or system model that most closely mimics a user's already built-in mental model of how a system should react to commands. On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 10:25 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Drop the term "consistency" and replace it with "predictability." > Predictability is really what you're after. Consistency helps with > predictability, but isn't the only factor. Predictability is a collective of > consistency, past experience, previous knowledge, and visual distinction. > > Predictability is the true goal, consistency is only one part of > predictability. And predictability improves usability. > > On Oct 15, 2008, at 9:30 AM, Paul Eisen wrote: > > However, more accurately, "consistency" is *as much* about "distinguishing >> things that have good reason to be distinct" as it is about "making things >> the same when they have no good reason to be distinct." >> > > > Cheers! > > Todd Zaki Warfel > President, Design Researcher > Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. > ---------------------------------- > Contact Info > Voice: (215) 825-7423 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > AIM: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Blog: http://toddwarfel.com > Twitter: zakiwarfel > ---------------------------------- > In theory, theory and practice are the same. > In practice, they are not. > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- ~ will "Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel: +1.617.281.1281 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] aim: semanticwill | gtalk: wkevans4 twitter: semanticwill | skype: semanticwill --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
