Nielsen Norman Group

World Leaders in Research-Based User Experience

Accelerators Allow Experts to Increase E iciency

Summary: Alternate methods for accomplishing a frequent action in a user interface support expert users by
speeding up their interactions, without hindering novices.
By Aurora Harley on December 8, 2019 Topics: Design Patterns

In user-interface design, we often focus on first-time users. In the typical usability-testing scenario, we recruit
participants who have never seen the tested interface before and ask them to use it to complete certain tasks. But, in
many cases, the system will be used again and again. Will repeat users be able to improve and become efficient at
their tasks? Once they’ve figured out the basics, will they be able to speed up or will they be annoyed at having to
repeat the same tedious steps?

Designing for expert users means we must balance learnability with productivity and efficiency. It is vital that new
users are able to easily figure out how to use the interface — otherwise they may never return — but expert users
expect to be able to complete their tasks with increasing efficiency and reach the point where they feel they have
mastered the interface. Any system that will be repeatedly used should cater to both new users and expert users by
including accelerators to allow people to complete certain routine tasks quickly and easily.

These types of systems include software-as-a-service (SAAS) products, applications (both mobile and desktop),
social-media platforms, and really, any system that is likely to be used frequently, particularly to complete a small set of
routine actions.

What’s an Accelerator?
Definition: An accelerator is a UI feature that speeds up an interaction or process.

Also referred to as shortcuts, accelerators enhance user interfaces by providing an alternate method (usually faster,
but possibly more demanding because of a higher memory load or a more complex gesture) for accomplishing a
specific action and thus allowing expert users to complete a common task more quickly and efficiently. It is worth
repeating that accelerators should be additional, alternate ways to accomplish a task — something that expert
users can take advantage of, but that others can ignore completely.

Common accelerators include:

Keyboard shortcuts
Macros (allowing users to link together certain actions, to be triggered via a single control)
Touch gestures (e.g., long press, double tap, swipe)

Accelerators make the system more flexible and efficient — one of Jakob Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics. A highly
flexible system satisfies both experienced and inexperienced users by allowing each to complete an action by
whatever method works best for them.

Typically, all users hit an efficiency plateau once they have fully learned an interface, where further repetitions of a task
do not reduce the task time. Using an accelerator helps expert users push past that plateau: they can become
even more efficient by adopting the faster method of completing that same task (once they have learned it, of course).

When to Provide an Accelerator