Big Mac Secret Sauce

• 1/4 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons french salad dressing
• 1/2 tablespoon sweet relish
• 2 teaspooons dill pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried, minced onion
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Sour cream

Rule of Thirds

The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines.

The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would.

The Gestalt Principle

Gestalt is a German word meaning "essence or shape of an entity's complete form", and this single definition may be one of the most important rules of design.

More often than not, designers tend to focus on the web design's' details rather than the overall look. They focus on curved edges, shadows, fonts…etc. all that is good but may not really make any difference if the client doesn't like the design at first glance, what most people don't understand is that the brain first sees the overall shape of any design, then starts to focus on and see the details.

The Principle of least effort

The principle of least effort is a broad theory that covers diverse fields from evolutionary biology to webpage design. It postulates that animals, people, even well designed machines will naturally choose the path of least resistance or "effort".

80/20 Rule

The Pareto principle (also known as the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that 80% of the effects comes from 20% of the causes.

This is the basic rule of thumb in business ("80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients"), but can also be applied to design and usability. For instance, dramatic improvements can often be achieved by identifying the 20% of users, customers, activities, products or processes that account for the 80% of contribution to profit and maximizing the attention applied to them.

3-click Rule

According to this rule users stop using the site if they aren't able to find the information or access the site feature within 3 mouse clicks.

In other words, the rule emphasizes the importance of clear navigation, logical structure and easy-to-follow site hierarchy. In most situations the number of clicks is irrelevant; what is really important is that visitors always know where they are, where they were and where they can go next. Even 10 clicks are OK if users feel that they have a full understanding of how the system works.

Inverted Pyramid

The inverted pyramid is a writing style where the piece goes from general to specific. The article begins with a conclusion, followed by key points and finally the minor details such as background information. Since web users want instant gratification, the inverted pyramid style, as supported by Nielsen, is important for web writing and for better user experience.

The Golden Ratio

1.618033988749895 ? 1.61 - In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller.

At least since the Renaissance, many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle.

The Cicada Principle

Depending on the species, every 7, 13, or 17 years periodical cicadas simultaneously emerge en masse, transform into noisy, flying creatures, find a mate, and die not long after. Since these are prime numbers, the years in which they emerge vitually ensure a nice overlap with other insect's life cycles (when these insects are emerging, so – to- are the cicadas.

This principle can be used to generate randomness in web graphics, particularly background images. For example, using semi-transparent PNGs of 29px, 37px, and 53px and setting them up as multiple backgrounds on the HTML element of a test page. The background won't repeat for over 56,000 pxels.

Occam's Razor

This is often paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." In other words, when multiple competing theories are equal in other respects, the principle recommends selecting the theory that introduces the fewest assumptions and postulates the fewest entities.

Maslow's Hierarchy

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology, proposed by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation.

Like so many other insightful descriptions of the human condition, his theory fits quite comfortably within the methodologies of experience design. Typically represented as a pyramid, the theory stipulates that the grasping of a need can only be adequately made when the lower-level needs have already been met successfully.

Moore's law

This law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware, in which the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years.

If you find it hard to keep up with technology, this is why.