LOOK AT YOUR PAGE THROUGH THESE
Home by Dark · October 31, 2026

Pick one page and one job a visitor wants to finish. Look on a laptop and a phone. These 20 ideas help you notice problems; they are not rules that every page must obey. Preserve the project's voice and chosen design. Do not invent problems to fill the list.

For each real finding, write:
Screen and element → principle → what it costs the person → smallest fix.

Example: Signup page, email field → feedback loops → after sending, I cannot tell if it worked and may send twice → show a clear confirmation beside the form.

1. Aesthetic-usability effect
A page that looks cared for can feel more trustworthy. Look for crooked edges, uneven spacing and controls that seem unfinished. Appearance does not prove the product works.

2. Hick's law
Several equal choices can slow a decision. Give the first-time visitor a clear starting point, then show other routes when needed.

3. Fitts's law
Small, distant controls take more effort to reach. Check tap areas on a phone and separate destructive actions from common ones. Treat roughly 44 pixels as a useful design target, not a claim that it is every accessibility rule's minimum.

4. Jakob's law
People bring habits from other sites. Use familiar words and behavior for familiar jobs, such as search, back and save.

5. Miller's law
People can hold only so much in mind. Break a long task into useful groups instead of asking someone to remember several facts between screens. Do not turn a memory study into a fixed menu-size rule.

6. Doherty threshold
Quick feedback helps a person stay with a task. If work takes a moment, show that it started and what is happening. Check the response on a slower connection too.

7. Law of proximity
Things near each other look connected. Put labels, explanations and errors next to the things they explain.

8. Law of similarity
Things that look alike seem to do the same job. Use the same treatment for the same action; make different jobs distinguishable.

9. Common region
A shared border or background suggests a group. Check that a card contains things that belong together.

10. Visual hierarchy
The most useful next step should be noticeable. Check what draws the eye before someone reads the whole page.

11. Progressive disclosure
Show what people need now, then let them open more. Fold away detailed reference material while keeping essential instructions visible.

12. Recognition over recall
Seeing a choice is less work than remembering it. Show examples, recent items or available options where people would otherwise have to guess.

13. Von Restorff effect
Something different stands out. Reserve the strongest treatment for the thing that matters most instead of making everything shout.

14. Peak-end rule
The useful moment and the ending shape how an experience is remembered. Make the result clear and finish with a useful next step.

15. Goal-gradient effect
Visible progress can help people finish. Show honest steps completed and what remains; never fake progress.

16. Serial position effect
The first and last items often get more attention. Put essential information where people can find it instead of burying it in a long list.

17. Tesler's law
Some complexity has to live somewhere. Let the system do work it can do reliably, such as filling a known value, instead of making the person repeat it.

18. Postel's law
Accept reasonable human variations, such as harmless spaces in a form. Keep security validation strict where it matters; being forgiving does not mean trusting unknown input.

19. Occam's razor
Use the fewest moving parts that do the job well. Ask what each extra setting or step helps the person accomplish.

20. Feedback loops
An action needs a visible result. Try copying, saving, sending, undoing and failing. Check that people know what happened and what to do next.

USE WITH JUDGMENT

Start with an observed problem, then use the principle to explain it. "I prefer blue" is a preference. "The two buttons look the same, so I deleted the draft while trying to save" is a finding. Ask a real person to try the task; these lenses do not replace watching.

Sources for the underlying usability guidance:
Nielsen Norman Group, usability heuristics: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
Nielsen Norman Group, response times: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/response-times-3-important-limits/
W3C, target size guidance: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/target-size-minimum.html

These examples are review suggestions, not numerical laws or a claim that satisfying the list makes a design good.