The design gurus over at Think Vitamin have a great list of the Top Ten of User Experience Myths. Two in particular leaped out at us: the myth that more user preferences is always a good thing, and the myth that design solutions have to be original.
When it comes to preferences, Think Vitamin's Keith Lang nails it: "every preference which is not really needed is a design choice that I'm offloading to all the users of my product or service."
If there was one thing we could eradicate from the software world it would be this myth that more preferences equals power user happiness. In fact it's offering the right preferences that makes all your users happy, regardless their skill level.
The second myth we'd like to see more designers breaking is the myth that everything has to be original. Hopefully this one is a bit more obvious, but if you haven't figured it out by now, there is a reason that power buttons have similar icons, CMD+C/Ctrl+C always copies text and download buttons usually have an arrow pointing down.
There's no need to re-invent the wheel to solve every interface problem. Don't be afraid to borrow or even outright steal ideas that are so common they've become part of the universal language of design.
Be sure to read Lang's whole post as there are quite a few other myths worth remembering.
Photo: Fensterbme/Flickr
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