Interface pages

When to use

Use it whenever you design, build or review a page of an interface, whatever tool builds it.

When not to use

Intake steps live in grid views on the table, covered in intake views. A question about one record belongs in a group of its record detail.

How it works

Give each page one actor

A page is one person’s job. The operator’s queue and the manager’s overview are two pages, even on one table. The operator’s pages come first in the sidebar.

Pass: every page names its 1 actor, and the first page in the sidebar is not an overview.

Build every page from a kind in the page kit

Write the actor’s question in their words and match it to a kind. The kind fixes the element, where the slices sit, how fields are ordered and what opens on a click.

Kind	Question it answers	Element
overview	How are we doing, and what needs attention?	dashboard
queue	What do I do now?	list
board	Where does each one stand?	kanban
register	Show me all of them	grid
log	What happened?	list
reference	What can I use or pick?	list or gallery
schedule	What happens when?	calendar or timeline
review	Approve these, one by one	record review
gallery	Which one is it? (visual)	gallery
custom	A question no native kind answers within these rules	custom code

Pass: every page names its kind, and the first page of each kind in an interface is the pattern the next one copies.

Scope the rows, then slice them

The scope keeps the rows this actor can act on. Slices narrow them further. Rows nobody will touch leave the scope, or get a tab named for what they are, such as Parked.

Pass: every row in a queue’s first tab has an action the actor can take today.

Use one filter mechanism per page

A page uses tabs or dropdowns, never both. See filters for the order of each.

Pass: no page carries both tabs and dropdowns.

Keep one detail page per table

Every page and every link pill opens the same detail for a table, and every element opens that detail on a click. A second detail for the same table is a break even when it looks better.

Pass: every table has exactly 1 detail page.

Merge pages that show the same rows

Two pages with the same rows and the same fields are one page with slices.

Pass: no two pages of one actor share both their scope and their fields.

Add slices when a question needs them

The first version of a page has its scope and one slice style. A dropdown, a second page or a dashboard section comes when a question appears that the page cannot answer. An actor with more than four pages is probably getting one page per wish.

Pass: every slice, dropdown and section names the question that required it.

Research

The interface skill’s page kit and process are the source of these rules, and both were built on the reviewer’s feedback. No outside guide has been found for them.