Fitts' Law

A prediction model used in human-computer interaction. It states that the time required to move to a target area rapidly increases as the distance to the target increases. The law was proposed by Paul Fitts, an American psychologist, in 1954 as a mathematical model of movement with limited cognitive capacity.

Fitts hypothesized that one would quickly select its first apparent target when reaching for an object before considering alternatives — a phenomenon called "target fixation." This tendency would increase progressively with increased distance between the subject and object until it eventually became exponential (i.e., too far away).

More terms you might want to know

Tone

The feeling or mood created by a design.

Left-aligned

Text that flows from left to right and is the default reading direction of a page with its content aligned on the left margin.

Hex Code

A way of expressing colours on digital media. To specify a hex code, you need to consider the three primary colours: red, green and blue. The hex code is always six characters long and looks like this: #RRGGBB and their values range from 00 to FF.

Skeuomorphism

The use of design features that are shaped to resemble a familiar object or thing in order to facilitate user interaction.

Pagination

A technique used to sequentially present items in a list or other data set that are too long to display at one time.

Hick's Law

A well-known cognitive psychologist's principle that says that the time it takes to make a decision varies logarithmically according to the number of choices. As more options are presented, more decision time is required due to the mental work of comparing and contrasting each potential option.

Texture

The surface quality of an element.

Calligraphy

The art of decorative writing practised by many different people in many different cultures. Calligraphy is sometimes used to add a personal touch to wedding invitations, special event invitations, and other projects.

Centre Aligned

A layout where all the content, mostly text, is aligned to the centre. The overall purpose of a Centre Alignment is to make it easier for users to read and scroll through content.

Copy

The written information that accompanies a design.

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