Prioritise content

[IanPouncey]

Strapline

Help users focus on core tasks, features, and information by prioritizing them within the content and layout.

Description

Interfaces can be difficult to understand when core features are not clearly exposed and prioritized. A site or application may provide lots of information and functionality, but people should be able to focus on one thing at a time. Identify the core purpose of the interface, and then the content and features needed to fulfill that purpose.

Examples

• Keep task focused: Progressively reveal features and content when needed, not all in one go.
• Prioritizing tasks: An email application is principally for writing and reading email. The "compose" button is, therefore, present on all screens, and early in the focus order. The inbox is prioritized over other lists of email, such as "sent" and "spam" messages. Less used features such as tagging or organizing email into folders appear later in the focus order, as they will generally only be used when the primary task of reading the email is complete.
• Prioritizing content: The primary content on a news article page is the story, therefore it should come before other content, both visually and in the source order. Related content, such as similar articles, should follow it, and unrelated content after that.
• Prioritising editorial: Editorial for links, headings and buttons should put the primary text first. This applies to both visible and hidden text. This makes the text easy to scan both visually and audibly for screen reader users.

[iheni]

Example: Don't hide a search box in a menu on native. Spotify does this which is nuts as they are all about the search.

[Heydon]

Prioritize important or frequent tasks

Strapline

Bring features which are integral to the understanding and operation of the interface to the forefront.

Description

Featureful interfaces can be difficult to apprehend where the importance and urgency of integral features are not exposed clearly and early in the user's journey. Supplementary features are meaningless until the core purpose of the application has been explored though exposition and usage.

[iheni]

Instead of 'featureful' could we say 'feature rich' or 'rich'? Also tried to simplify the first sentence. Struggling a bit with the second sentence, I think it's the use of 'exposition' maybe...

Rich interfaces can be difficult to apprehend where integral (essential/core/key) features are not exposed clearly and early in the user's journey. Supplementary features are meaningless until the core purpose of the application has been explored though exposition and usage.

[Heydon]

I've settled on "key". I think that's the best of the alternatives above.

[Heydon]

• Email clients are for email: Your email application is principally for writing and reading email. The "compose" button is therefore present on all screens, and first in tab order by keyboard. Your inbox is first in a list of screens which include "spam" and "settings". It appears on login by default. Less used features such as tagging or organising email into folders appear later in the tab order, as they will generally only be used when the primary task of reading the email is complete.

[Heydon]

Example:

(this is based on an experience I just had with a taxi company phone app)

• The "create new" button Your taxi company's app has a screen for "My bookings". It lists a history of the user's bookings, but not the ability to make a new one. Since many users would go to "My bookings" expecting to be able to create as well as view bookings, you provide a "create new" button at the head of the list.

[iheni]

Prioritize tasks

Strapline

Critical tasks, features, and information are prioritized within the content and layout.

Description

Interfaces can be difficult to understand when core features are not clearly exposed and prioritized. Identify the core purpose, and the content and features required to fulfill that purpose. Then make it visually obvious and early in the content order.

Prioritizing critical features and information has the following benefits:

• The primary purpose of the interface is clear.
• Access to the critical information is simplified.
• It is quicker and easier to complete tasks.

Examples

• Prioritizing tasks: An email application is principally for writing and reading email. The "compose" button is, therefore, present on all screens, and early in the focus order. The inbox is prioritized over other lists of email, such as "sent" and "spam" messages. Less used features such as tagging or organizing email into folders appear later in the focus order, as they will generally only be used when the primary task of reading the email is complete.
• Prioritizing content: The primary content on a news article page is the story, therefore it should come before other content, both visually and in the source order. Related content, such as similar articles, should follow it, and unrelated content after that.
• Prioritising editorial: Editorial for links, headings and buttons should put the primary text first. This applies to both visible and hidden text. This makes the text easy to scan both visually and audibly for screen reader users. EXAMPLE NEEDED

[Heydon]

A few thoughts:

• We've introduced bullet points to a description. Feels a bit unbalanced when we don't do it elsewhere.
• Possibly we need to be more explicit about how being able to understand supplementary tasks can be dependent on understanding primary ones

[iheni]

Re bulleted list: We chatted about this last week and again this week with Léonie. We could chuck these into a paragraph but it would be a long sentence to read. Lists are more usable. Also we might want to look at adding bullets to descriptions. For now we agreed to leave as is and harmonize descriptions when we do the final walk though.

[IanPouncey]

Supplementary tasks should naturally flow from prioritising primary tasks, so I'm not sure that it needs to be stated, or if doing so would make this harder to understand. This is perhaps better handled by example, and already is; tagging an email requires reading the subject at least, which is part of one of the primary tasks.

[Heydon]

(Combining with #8 Keep focus. Need to mention time critical tasks somehow.)

Description

A site or application may contain lots of sometimes diverse information and functionality. To help people learn your interface and operate it with ease, you should

[iheni]

Slight edit:

A site or application may contain diverse information and functionality. To help people understand the interface, bring key content to the forefront in a clear and timely fashion.

[LJWatson]

Strapline

Help users focus on core tasks, features, and information by prioritizing them within the content and layout.

Description

Interfaces can be difficult to understand when core features are not clearly exposed and prioritized. A site or application may provide lots of information and functionality, but people should be able to focus on one thing at a time. Identify the core purpose of the interface, and then the content and features needed to fulfill that purpose.

Examples

• Keep task focused: Progressively reveal features and content when needed, not all in one go.
• Prioritizing tasks: An email application is principally for writing and reading email. The "compose" button is, therefore, present on all screens, and early in the focus order. The inbox is prioritized over other lists of email, such as "sent" and "spam" messages. Less used features such as tagging or organizing email into folders appear later in the focus order, as they will generally only be used when the primary task of reading the email is complete.
• Prioritizing content: The primary content on a news article page is the story, therefore it should come before other content, both visually and in the source order. Related content, such as similar articles, should follow it, and unrelated content after that.
• Prioritising editorial: Editorial for links, headings and buttons should put the primary text first. This applies to both visible and hidden text. This makes the text easy to scan both visually and audibly for screen reader users.

[iheni]

Closing the original principle.