Jabob Nielsen’s regular useability column is always an interesting read. I like the analogy he gives for his number one rule – stick to standard checkboxes, radio buttons and so on.
“If you change the appearance or behavior of these units, it’s like suddenly injecting foreign words into a natural-language communication. Det vil gøre læserne forvirrede (or, to revert to English: Doing so will confuse readers). “
I have noticed (like Neilsen) that the most common victim is the humble scrollbar. I have no idea why, but every designer seems to think that scrollbars are really ugly and need reworking. Neilsen observes that these “almost always cause users to overlook some of their options.”
He continues:
“If Jakob’s Law is “users spend most of their time on other websites,” then Jakob’s Second Law is even more critical: “Users have several thousand times more experience with standard GUI controls than with any individual new design.” “
Bob Browning's blog 
Leave a comment