ISO guidelines for webdesign
By Kristoffer Bohmann
International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) offers a range of webdesign guidelines. The most important ISO standard for design would probably be ISO 9241 (part 1 of 17) titled "Ergonomics requirements for office work with visual display terminals (VDTs)". ISO 9241 includes guidelines for form filling dialogues, menu dialogues, and user guidance.
However, I don't have full confidence in ISO's ability to create useful guidelines for webdesign for several reasons:
- This link (WARNING: dead link) used to be an ISO product page but it no longer works. Accordingly, websites who link to this ISO product page will produce a fatal error in the eyes of their users.
- ISO's own product pages lack even the most simple product description. ISO has not identified and implemented this practice as a standard(!)
- Default site search on ISO.org does not support searches for ISO numbers despite the fact this is what many users come for.
- Users are bothered with an unnecessary splash screen upon entering the site. A more usage-centered design would simply display the homepage.
Bottom-line: Find a more consistent guideline supplier.
Kristoffer Bohmann
