Designing for Error

Here is what designers should do:

1. Understand the cause of the error and design to minimize those causes.
2. Make it possible to reverse actions--to "undo them"--or make it harder to do what cannot be reversed.
3. Make it easier to discover the errors that do occur, and make them easier to correct.
4. Change the attitude toward errors. Think of an object's user as attempting to do a task, getting there by imperfect approximations. Don't think of the user as making errors; think of the actions as approximations of what is desired.

Book: The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
Category: Non-fiction/Design/Usability
Page: 131