widely accepted and understood ways of presenting information and interaction opportunities in a UI.
Some aspects of UX design at times have a somewhat arbitrary nature, and best-practice is to follow established design. Users will expect and be familiar with that. For example:
- Scrollbar on the left (conventions in scrolling are often only under that tag, and not this one too).
- Should a toggle button show its current state or the state to which it will change? (this question appears repeatedly in different guises).
Sticking to conventions isn't a hard and fast rule. Changes in hardware, such as the arrival of the iphone and greater use of touch can drive changes in conventions in UX. It's not always clear How and when to go about challenging a tried and true user behavior?
Questions with this tag also look at UX Organisation that work to establish standards
Creating a 'Conventions' Question
Describe the forces that are encouraging you to break with conventions, or where you are trying to find what conventions there are, what you have found so far.