Laws of UX

A fresh, oversized Laws of UX poster has arrived, promising a tidy collection of design best practices for making websites and apps easier to use. New entries include Paradox of the Active User, Selective Attention, and Cognitive Bias—basically, reminders that humans get distracted, overwhelmed, and very much do not behave like robots. But if the poster hoped to bring peace and order, the comment section had other plans.

The loudest split? One camp called it a great resource and a helpful cheat sheet, especially for people who want simple rules to follow. One commenter even said it feels like the perfect thing for artificial intelligence to “bulk check” screens, like a spell-checker for confusing layouts. The other camp was not having it. Critics pounced on the word “laws,” arguing some entries feel more like vague psychology terms than practical rules. One especially spicy complaint called parts of it “half-assed,” while another pointed out the irony of a page warning about choice overload while burying readers under 30 text-heavy entries and a pile of giant images.

And then came the crowd favorite: “Law #0” should be not moving the button right before someone clicks it. Honestly? Instant classic. Beneath the jokes, there’s real frustration here: people want design advice that actually helps in the real world, not just a poster pretty enough to hang on a wall and argue about online.