Skip to main content
Short-Term Memory and Web Usability
The human brain is not optimized for the abstract thinking and data memorization that websites often demand. Many usability guidelines are dictated by cognitive limitations.
When it comes to abstract thinking, humans have extremely limited brainpower. For example, short-term memory famously holds only about 7 chunks of information, and these fade from your brain in about 20 seconds.
It's a common misconception that limited short-term memory implies that menus should be similarly limited to 7 items. It's fine to have longer menus (if needed), because users don't have to memorize the full list of menu items. The entire idea of a menu is to rely on recognition rather than recall.
Comments