Introduction

Human interface guidelines (HIG) are software development documents that offer application developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for users by making application interfaces more consistent and hence more intuitive and learnable.

Learn more about the philosophy behind the KDE HIG

Structure

Behaviour

Viewing and Navigation

Access functions

Apply a menu bar to every standard application.
Try to omit the status bar from your application.
Provide a context menu for controls with implicit functions.
Provide a toolbar for frequently used functions.
Use a push button to initiate an action when the user clicks it.
Use a toogle button to indicate a state, preferably in toolbars only.
Use a command link to navigate between pages.
Support keyboard access by accelerators and shortcuts.
Follow the guidelines for dialogs for secondary windows.

Grouping

Arrange associated controls by using a labeled group box or an unlabeled frame.
Allow users to resize aligned groups by placing a splitter between the groups.
Use tabs to show related information on separate pages.
Provide an accordion (aka tool box) for different views to content.

Complex views

Use a list view to show some items out of one category.
Use a tree view to show items with a single, natural, hierarchical categorization.
If you really need to create your own widget follow the guidelines for custom controls.
Double check the guidelines about plotting diagram/charts.

Editing and Manipulation

Selection

Use radio buttons for selection of 1 out of a few items.
Use one or more check boxes for clear options or to select items out of a small number of options.
Use a drop-down list for selection of 1 out of a small number of items.
Use a combo box to select 1 out of a small number of items where users should be able to add items.
Use a list view to select 1 singular item out of a potentially big list.
Apply the dual list pattern for several selections out of a large number of (multiple) items.

Unconstrained input

Provide a line edit to enter one line of text.
Provide a text edit to enter multiple lines of texts.
Use a table view to arrange data in rows and columns with inline editing feature.

Constrained input

Use a spin box for numerical input within a range and with fix steps.
Use a slider for arbitrary changes within a defined range.
Apply the slider and spin box pattern for numeric input with both large changes and precise control.
Use date and time pickers for formatted input of datum, time of day, or periods etc.

User Assistance

User-driven information

Provide tool-tips for user driven information.

System triggered notification

Provide a message panel to inform users about non-critical problems.
Use a notification as system-triggered message to inform about events out of the current context.
Show a progress indicator for lengthy actions.

Disruptive messages

Show a modal message dialog if the processing has reached an unexpected condition that needs interaction.

Help system

Support the user by an elaborated interface or per help system.

Presentation

Layout

Place controls carefully with proper size and space between.
Carefully place control according the KDE alignment style.
Do not use color as primary method of communication.
Choose icons from the Oxygen icon set and follow guidelines on icon design.

Style

Text

Keep wording consistent and easy to understand.
Take care about localization of your project.
Use ellipsis to label functions which require user’s input.
Do not apply capitalization except for titles and in case of sentence style.
Static text
Control Labels

Contributing

Didn't find what you were looking for?

A guide to the guide can be found at the about page.

Our Human Interface Guidelines are a work in progress and we need your help. Visit the Contributing page to report problems or get involved.

Legacy stuff

Projects/Usability/HIG