KDE User Interface Guidelines

The KDE Human interface guidelines (HIG) offer application designers and developers a set of recommendations. Their aim is to improve the experience for users by making application interfaces more consistent and hence more intuitive and learnable.

Getting Started

Design Vision and Principles - The overall vision and principles that guide the design and development of user interfaces for KDE software.
Concept - Covers creating a project vision, determining the users, and the scenarios of use.
Organization - Provides guidance on how the application’s content and functionality are ordered and categorized.

Behaviour

This section contains guidelines for application behaviour.

Viewing and Navigation - Encompasses guidance on controls and patterns to use for viewing, navigating and acting on application content.
Editing and Manipulation - Covers the behaviors that result in persistent changes to user’s stored information. Includes guidance on controls and patterns to use for selection, unconstrained input and constrained input.
User Assistance - Considers behaviours that inform users of the application’s activity and status. This includes help, error alerts, and status alerts.

Presentation

Presentation deals with visual design of the user interface.

Layout - Guidance regarding the placement and ordering of onscreen elements. Includes guidance on layout patterns, alignment, size and spacing.
Style - Style is concerned with emotion, tone, and visual vocabulary. Includes guidance on the use of colour, the design of icons and the typography.
Text - Guidance for the written, language-based elements of the interface. Includes guidance on wording, capitalization and localization.

Tools and Resources

The following tools and resources are offered to help with following these guidelines.

Mockup Toolkit - Includes UI controls stencils, color swatches and fonts to help create the visual design your application.
Visual Design Group forum - Ask for help and share your design ideas.