Design Standards or Style Guides

Design Standards or Style Guides

A design standard or style guide documents an agreed-upon way of doing something. It also defines the interface standards, rules, guidelines, and conventions that must be followed in detailed design.

Value of Standards and Guidelines

Developing and applying design standards or guidelines achieve design consistency.

This is valuable to users because the standards and guidelines:

o   Allow faster performance.

o   Reduce errors.

o   Reduce training time.

o   Foster better system utilization.

o   Improve satisfaction.

o   Improve system acceptance.

They are valuable to system developers because they:

o   Increase visibility of the human-computer interface.

o   Simplify design.

o   Provide more programming and design aids, reducing programming time.

o   Reduce redundant effort.

o   Reduce training time.

o   Provide a benchmark for quality control testing.

Document Design

Include checklists to present principles and guidelines.

Provide a rationale for why the particular guidelines should be used.

Provide a rationale describing the conditions under which various design alternatives are appropriate.

Include concrete examples of correct design.

Design the guideline document following recognized principles for good document design.

Provide good access mechanisms such as a thorough index, a table of contents, glossaries, and checklists.

Design Support and Implementation

Use all available reference sources in creating the guidelines.

Use development and implementation tools that support the guidelines.

Begin applying the guidelines immediately.

System Training and Documentation Needs

System Timings

System training will be based on user needs, system conceptual design, system learning goals, and system performance goals.

Training may include such tools as formal or video training, manuals, online tutorials, reference manuals, quick reference guides, and online help.

Any potential problems can also be identified and addressed earlier in the design process, reducing later problems and modification costs.

Documentation

System documentation is a reference point, a form of communication, and a more concrete design—words that can be seen and understood based on user needs, system conceptual design, and system performance goals.

It will also be Creating documentation during the development progress will uncover issues and reveal omissions that might not otherwise be detected until later in the design process.