2.2 Interaction Guidelines

The following guidelines are designed to provide you with practical ways to implement the user interaction design principles for Microsoft Surface experiences.

Each set of guidelines comprises three categories:

• The must category provides the minimum requirements you need to meet to adhere to the design principles. The must guidelines also describe characteristics that are required by the Surface application certification process. Each guideline cites specific requirements as appropriate.
  
  
• The should category describes guidelines that provide excellent experiences for users and that you can implement at a relatively low cost by using Surface tools.
  
  
• The could category lists guidelines that we recommend so that your application provides a more complete, desirable, and fulfilling user experience. However, these guidelines might also cost more so you should prioritize them accordingly. These guidelines might also apply only to particular application scenarios.
  
  

• 2.2.1 Make Virtual Objects Behave Like Physical Objects
  
  
• 2.2.2 Use Tagged Objects
  
  
• 2.2.3 Use Untagged Objects
  
  
• 2.2.4 Create Single-User and Multiuser Experiences
  
  
• 2.2.5 Support Appropriate Levels of Inter-User Task Coupling
  
  
• 2.2.6 Consider How Multiple Users Share Space
  
  
• 2.2.7 Provide a 360-Degree User Interface
  
  
• 2.2.8 Support Using 2-D Planar Space
  
  
• 2.2.9 Adhere to Principles of 3-D Space Utilization (the Z-Axis)
  
  
• 2.2.10 Make Experiences Natural and Better than Real
  
  
• 2.2.11 Create a Sense of Life
  
  
• 2.2.12 Enable Playful, Pleasurable, and Exploratory Touches
  
  
• 2.2.13 Use Affordances and Constraints to Lead Interaction
  
  
• 2.2.14 Ensure the Experience Is Focused
  
  
• 2.2.15 Make Applications Intelligent but Not Presumptuous
  
  
• 2.2.16 Integrate Learning with Doing
  
  
• 2.2.17 Use Progressive Disclosure to Reveal Functionality
  
  
• 2.2.18 Ensure Instant Gratification and a Sense of Success
  
  
• 2.2.19 Appeal to Multiple Senses
  
  
• 2.2.20 Use Continuous Input, Not Discrete Actions
  
  
• 2.2.21 Make the Content the Interface
  
  
• 2.2.22 Use Manipulation Gestures, Not System Gestures
  
  
• 2.2.23 Properly Integrate with Surface Shell
  
  
• 2.2.24 Consider the Physical Environment