#UI

This is a pretty good set of guidelines. I usually set up rules for any given project; I can't say that I've ever really had a major guiding principle for how I'm going to do things.

Pretty comprehensive writeup about the use of icons from the makers of iA Writer, one of the App Store's most popular overpriced minimalist writing apps.

The long and short of it:

• Icons alone can't convey the meaning, causing usability issues
• Text labels without icons are dry and not compelling, which is a UI problem of its own (whether we like that fact or not)
• Both is almost always going to feel like a compromise

So... everything is bad, more or less. They advise getting things right without icons in the IA and wireframing stage, then adding on the emotional component as part of UI design. Sound approach, but ultimately we're still left with icons as a pretty good solution that are still mostly unable to convey verbs and abstract concepts.

Great stuff from Nicole Fenton. This is a talk but translates well to a writeup.

UI copy gets the shaft so often, not just in terms of the attention it receives but also the way it's written.

You write code iteratively, so why not the rest of it? It’s okay if your interface writing isn’t perfect. But you better believe that you need to go back and clean up those strings before you go live.

This is really important. Every project I've ever been a part of forgot the "we can improve later" mindset of Agile to some degree when faced with the prospect of launching with imperfect interface copy.