Editing Human interface guidelines

{{Short description|Software development documents}}
[[File:Modern GNOME Human Interface Guidelines.png|thumb|389x389px|A page from the [[GNOME]] Human Interface Guidelines]]
'''Human interface guidelines''' ('''HIG''') are [[software development]] documents which offer application developers a set of recommendations.  Their aim is to improve the experience for the users by making application interfaces more intuitive, learnable, and consistent.  Most guides limit themselves to defining a common [[look and feel]] for applications in a particular [[desktop environment]].  The guides enumerate specific policies. Policies are sometimes based on [[usability study|usability studies]] of [[human–computer interaction]], but most reflect the platform developers' preferences. {{Citation needed|date=June 2014}}

The central aim of a HIG is to create a consistent experience across the environment (generally an [[operating system]] or [[desktop environment]]), including the [[application software|applications]] and other tools being used. This means both applying the same visual design and creating consistent access to and behaviour of common elements of the interface – from simple ones such as [[button (computing)|button]]s and [[icon (computing)|icon]]s up to more complex constructions, such as [[dialog box]]es.

HIGs are recommendations and advice meant to help developers create better applications. Developers sometimes intentionally choose to break them if they think that the guidelines do not fit their application, or [[usability testing]] reveals an advantage in doing so.  But in turn, the organization publishing the HIG might withhold endorsement of the application.  [[Mozilla Firefox]]'s user interface, for example, goes against the [[GNOME]] project's HIG, which is one of the project's main arguments for including [[GNOME Web]] instead of Firefox in the GNOME distribution.<ref>[https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Web/Docs/FrequentlyAskedQuestions#Mozilla_and_Firefox Epiphany Project FAQ: Mozilla and Firefox - GNOME Wiki]</ref>

== Scope ==
Human interface guidelines often describe the visual design rules, including icon and window design and style.  Much less frequently, they specify how user input and [[Human–computer interaction|interaction]] mechanisms work.  Aside from the detailed rules, guidelines sometimes also make broader suggestions about how to organize and design the application and write user-interface text.

HIGs are also done for applications.  In this case the HIG will build on a platform HIG by adding the common semantics for a range of application functions.

== Cross-platform guidelines ==
In contrast to platform-specific guidelines, [[cross-platform]] guidelines aren't tied to a distinct platform. These guidelines make recommendations which should be true on any platform. Since this isn't always possible, cross-platform guidelines may weigh the compliance against the imposed work load.

==Examples==
===[[Linux]], [[macOS]], [[Unix-like]]===
*[https://docs.elementary.io/hig/ Elementary OS Human Interface Guidelines] ([https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines Old link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217201144/https://elementary.io/docs/human-interface-guidelines |date=2018-02-17 }})
*[https://developer.gnome.org/hig GNOME Human Interface Guidelines]
*[https://develop.kde.org/hig/ KDE Human Interface Guidelines]
*[https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines Apple Human Interface Guidelines]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Designing for macOS |url=https://docs.developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-macos |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=Apple Developer Documentation |language=en-US}}</ref>
*[https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines OLPC Human Interface Guidelines]
*[https://design.ubuntu.com/apps Ubuntu App Design Guides]
*[https://wiki.xfce.org/dev/hig/general Xfce UI Guidelines]
*[https://sites.ualberta.ca/dept/chemeng/AIX-43/share/man/info/C/a_doc_lib/motif/motifsg/toc.htm Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide]
*[https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.5555/573097 (Classic) Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20030408101238/http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/mac/pdf/HIGuidelines.pdf Higher quality from developer.apple.com] via [[Wayback Machine]], Archived 2003-04-08)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030315124240/http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/mac/pdf/HIGOS8Guidelines.pdf Mac OS 8 Human Inteface Guidelines (addendum)] (via [[Wayback Machine]], Archived 2003-03-15)

===[[Programming languages]]===
*[https://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/application-server/jlf-135985.html Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, and Advanced Topics] (2001 - Can't be accessed anymore, but can archived in [[Wayback Machine]])<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-09 |title=Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines |url=https://oracle.com/us/products/middleware/application-server/jlf-135985.html |access-date=2024-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009192859/https://oracle.com/us/products/middleware/application-server/jlf-135985.html |archive-date=2017-10-09 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://course.khoury.northeastern.edu/is4300f16/ssl/JLFDG.pdf |title=Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines |date=June 1999 |publisher=Sun Microsystems, Inc. |isbn=0-201-61585-1 |edition=1st |location=San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, California|publication-date=June 1999 |language=}}</ref>

===[[Portable devices]]===
*[https://developer.android.com/design/index.html Android Design]
*[https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-watchos Designing for Apple watchOS]
*[https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/ Apple iOS Human Interface Guidelines]
*[https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/designing-for-ipados Apple iPadOS Human Interface Guidelines]

===[[Microsoft Windows]]===
*[https://archive.org/details/windowsinterface00micr_0 The Windows Interface: An Application Design Guide (1992)] (Windows 3.1)
*[https://archive.org/details/windowsinterface00micr The Windows Interface Guidelines For Software Design (1995)] (Windows 95 and NT 4)
*[https://archive.org/details/microsoftwindows00micr_0 Microsoft Windows User Experience (1999)] (Windows 98, ME, and 2000)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050923111739/http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/xpv/1.0a/WXP/EN-US/WindowsXP_DesignGuidelines.exe Windows XP Design Guidelines] (HTML in self-extracting Zip file, Archived 2005-09-23)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111203165235/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines] (for Windows 7 and Windows Vista) (Archived 2011-12-03, See also [https://archive.org/details/UXGuide/mode/2up PDF])
*[[Fluent Design System|Microsoft Fluent Design System]] (for Windows 10/11-based devices)
*[https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/apps/fa00461b-abe1-41d1-be87-0b0fe3d3389d%28v=vs.105%29.aspx Design library for Windows Phone]

===Miscellaneous===
*[[Common User Access]] (IBM platforms including OS/2. Also Windows prior to 3.x versions)
*[https://eclipse-platform.github.io/ui-best-practices/ Eclipse UI Guidelines]
*[http://wyoguide.sourceforge.net/guidelines/content.html wyoGuide], a cross-platform HIG ([[wxWidgets]])
*[[ELMER (guidelines for public forms on the internet)]]
*[https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/HIG Haiku Human Interface Guidelines]
*[https://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/doc/harmonyos-guides-V5/ui-design-introduction-V5 HarmonyOS Design Guidelines]
*[https://www.openharmony.cn/docs/zh-cn/applicationDesign OpenHarmony Universal Design Guidelines]

== See also ==
* [[Common User Access]]
* [[Graphical user interface builder]]
* [[Human interface device]]
* [[Linux on the desktop]]
* [[Principle of least astonishment]]
* [[Principles of grouping]]
* [[Usability]]
* [[User interface]]
* [[Web accessibility]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Human Interface Guidelines}}
[[Category:Human–computer interaction]]
[[Category:Graphical user interfaces]]

[[de:Human Interface Guideline]]