Principles Wiki

User Tools

Site Tools

You are here: Principles Wiki » Principles » Miller's Law
principles:miller_s_law

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revisionBoth sides next revision
principles:miller_s_law [2020-10-12 16:24] – old revision restored (2013-01-16 18:59) 159.69.186.191principles:miller_s_law [2020-10-12 16:24] – old revision restored (2013-01-16 18:32) 159.69.186.191
Line 1: Line 1:
 ====== Miller's Law ====== ====== Miller's Law ======
  
-===== Variants and Alternative Names ===== +~~REDIRECT>principles:More Is More Complex~~
- +
- +
-===== Context ===== +
-/* fill in contexts here: */ +
- +
-===== Principle Statement ===== +
- +
-Any list should not contain more than 7±2 items. +
- +
- +
-===== Description ===== +
- +
-Lists such as items in the main menu of a program or bullets on a presentation slide should be limited to 7±2 items. +
- +
- +
-===== Rationale ===== +
- +
-The human short-term memory is limited. Research shows that one can remember 7±2 chunks of information. +
- +
- +
-===== Strategies ===== +
- +
-  * Divide a long list into sub-lists adhering to the rule. +
- +
- +
-===== Origin ===== +
- +
-  * The original source for 7±2 is this: George A. Miller: //[[http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Miller%20GA%20Magical%20Seven%20Psych%20Review%201955.pdf|The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information]]// +
-  * How this became a design rule is unknown. +
- +
- +
-===== Evidence ===== +
-/* Comment out what is not applicable and explain the rest: */ +
-/*  * [[wiki:Proposed]]*/ +
- +
-  * [[wiki:Examined]]: There is scientific research concerning the short-term memory((George A. Miller: //[[http://www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/peterson/psy430s2001/Miller%20GA%20Magical%20Seven%20Psych%20Review%201955.pdf|The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information]]//)). But this does not apply to any aspect of design directly. +
-  * [[wiki:Accepted]]: The principle is widely stated as a (user interface) design rule. +
-  * :!: [[wiki:Questioned]] :!:: It is highly doubtful to directly making a limit for memorizing digits to a generally applicable design rule. There is no evidence suggesting a rule that a list should not be longer then 7±2 items(([[http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000U6&topic_id=1|The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Not relevant for design]])). +
- +
- +
-===== Relations to Other Principles ===== +
- +
-==== Generalizations ==== +
- +
-==== Specializations ==== +
- +
-==== Contrary Principles ==== +
- +
-==== Complementary Principles ==== +
- +
-  * [[More Is More Complex]]: This is a proposed design rule, which is not directly affected by the criticism of Miller's Law. +
- +
-==== Principle Collections ==== +
- +
- +
-===== Example ===== +
- +
- +
-===== Description Status ===== +
-/* Choose one of the following and comment out the rest: */ +
-[[wiki:Stub]] +
-/*[[wiki:Incomplete]]*/ +
-/*[[wiki:Complete]]*/ +
- +
-===== Further Reading ===== +
- +
-  * [[wp>The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two]]  +
-  * [[wiki>SevenPlusOrMinusTwo]]  +
-  * [[wiki>SevenPlusOrMinusTwoDiscussion]]  +
-  * Derek M. Jones: //[[http://www.knosof.co.uk/cbook/misart.pdf|The 7±2 Urban Legend]]//  +
principles/miller_s_law.txt · Last modified: 2021-10-18 21:48 by christian