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◂ User Experience Design guidelines

2.6 Minimize non-essential content, interactivity, or journeys

User Experience Design

Use distraction and clutter-free design, showing the visitor only what they need without interruptions or wasted resource consumption.

Criteria

  • Efficient paths: Machine-testable
    Make access as simple and efficient as possible. Displaying the time required to complete an action, reduction of choice, and ensuring users understand requirements at the start of a journey can improve user efficiency.
    • AFNOR Spec 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (French)
    • Customer Experience Mapping
    • GreenIT – 003 – Optimize the user journey
    • How can we design sustainably?
    • OpQuast – 29 – A product or service can be purchased without creating an account.
    • OpQuast – 33 – Product availability is indicated before final validation of the order.
    • OpQuast – 84 – The user is alerted at the beginning of a complex process to the nature of the required data and document.
    • OpQuast – 149 – Navigating the website does not open any pop-up windows.
    • Sustainable UX is more than reducing your website’s footprint
    • United Nations SDGS – Goal 7 – Sustainable Energy
    • Validate the user journey and needs
    • What is a Customer Journey Map?
  • Patterns for efficiency: Human-testable
    Ensure user journeys are as smooth as possible. It also helps to build on established design patterns that people already understand.
    • AFNOR Spec 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (French)
    • Build straight paths to user value
    • Design patterns
    • Design Principles
    • GR491 – 7-3052 – Quick And Simple
    • GR491 – 9-3063 – Useful to the User
    • How Fast Do Websites Load In 2024?
    • Patterns
    • Patterns.dev
  • Distraction-free design: Machine-testable
    Enable users to complete tasks without distractions or non-essential features getting in the way.
    • AFNOR Spec 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (French)
    • GR491 – 4-5030 – Older Equipment or Limited Network Access
    • GR491 – 7-3052 – Quick And Simple
    • GR491 – 9-3063 – Useful to the User
    • Laws Of UX
    • Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More in UX Design
    • UI Tools
    • UX: Best Practices For Developers
  • Eliminate the non-essential: Machine-testable
    Only show users information that is relevant to their experience, hiding non-essential information from view.
    • A manifesto for small, static, web apps
    • AFNOR Spec 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (French)
    • GPF – General Policy Framework (PDF) – 3.1 – Architecture (Impact Reduction)
    • GR491 – 2-7033 – Lighter Framework / Library
    • GreenIT – 001 – Eliminate non-essential features
    • How can we design sustainably?
    • How to Become an Eco Web Designer
    • Remove non-essential features from the scope
    • Using UX Design to Build a Sustainable Future
    • The web is fast by default, let’s keep it fast
    • Web Almanac: Sustainability
  • User-initiated actionable content: Machine-testable
    Ensure that disruptive actionable information, such as pop-up or modal windows, can only be initiated by the user.
    • AFNOR Spec 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 (French)
    • dialog: The Dialog element
    • Modal & Nonmodal Dialogs: When (& When Not) to Use Them
    • OpQuast – 29 – A product or service can be purchased without creating an account.
    • OpQuast – 33 – Product availability is indicated before final validation of the order.
    • Popups: 10 Problematic Trends and Alternatives
    • Web Almanac: Sustainability

Benefits

  • Accessibility
    Providing intuitive, lightweight user experiences improves understanding and accessibility, especially for people with cognitive disabilities. Reducing confusion, this can reduce the time spent trying to find content.
  • Conversion
    Following conventions and patterns with a clean, distraction-free layout reduces churn, page abandonment, and barriers to entry.
  • Economic
    Simplifying interfaces by reducing the amount of information can reduce the burden of choice and help to convert users during online decision-to-purchase processes. Reduced user choice will also reduce data payloads.
  • Environment
    Streamlining user experience to remove barriers and the non-essential reduces unnecessary code and content payloads and the amount of time users spend on their devices trying to complete tasks or find information. This reduces the amount of energy used and lowers emissions.
  • Performance
    Minimizing the amount of content on screen to what is genuinely required reduces bandwidth consumption over the lifecycle project and may make the user experience feel faster.
  • Privacy
    Hiding non-essential features can improve data protection by reducing overall data collection overall, especially that associated with the integration of third-party services.
  • Social Equity
    Reducing device and bandwidth requirements through providing more lightweight experiences can improve work better for users using older devices or located in low-bandwidth environments, and similar.

GRI

  • Materials: Medium
  • Energy: Medium
  • Water: Medium
  • Emissions: Medium

View the Guideline

Tags

PerformanceSocial EquityPatternsUIUsabilityContent

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More user experience design guidelines

2.1 Display any factors that have a negative impact on your project

User Experience Design

2.2 Understand user requirements or constraints, resolving barriers to access

User Experience Design

2.3 Understand the impact for non-users

User Experience Design

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