Practical Style Definition

Many golden rules conflict with one another because they are unrestricted.

Rules should have borders, and within their borders they can rule. Outside of their borders they should be ignored because they conflict with other rules. For example, the rules regarding multimedia may be as follows:

Apply multimedia features in warning messages, for training and for sales promotion.

Avoid multimedia features in data entry, monitoring, supervision and problem solving screens.

By adding the underlined restrictions, we set the boundaries and avoid conflicting suggestions.

Accordingly, the position of this guide on style definition is:

Styles may be defined by restricting golden rules about user interface design.

Guidelines

Style guides should not be taken as containing absolute rules. For almost every design rule, one can find a contradicting rule.
Style guides may be double-edged swords. Depending on how we use them, they can either improve or hamper the user interface.
Define styles by setting boundaries for the common design rules.

Practical Style Definition

Guidelines

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