The Decentralisation Design Principles (DDP) provide a guide to help you design blockchain-based applications and their interfaces to better serve their end-users. Principles fall under two main categories [Reading Data]
(accessing and retrieving data from storage without modifying it), and [Writing Data]
(modifying data to storage). In addition, each prinicple is focused on addressing one of the following subcategories:
[UI]
: The user interface presentation layer of the application.
[Permanence]
: The irreversible nature of blockchain transactions requires emphasis on the importance of preventing mistakes that could have long-lasting effects.
[Value]
: Actions involving the transfer of valuable assets such as money.
[Privacy]
: Protecting the personal information and interactions of users from unauthorised access, while still ensuring transparency and accessibility where needed.
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[UI]
Clarify which data comes from the blockchain and which doesn’t.[UI]
Clarify blockchain addresses, which data comes from oracles and link all blockchain data to independent blockchain explorers.[UI]
Manage transaction wait time. Clarify blockchain specific times and manage user’s wait in various phases and feedback.[UI]
Within the context of an individual, adapt to progressively increase/decrease the amount of new lingo and specific concepts that they need to learn and are exposed to. never combine expert-level blockchain-specific lingo with the need-to-know basics when acting within the same context of an individual; create tiers of knowledge levels. You can show an expert the basics, but never the other way around.[UI]
Use a consistent visual language to dictate addresses. use human-readable deterministic visual representation of the hash (i.e. Identicons, Blockies et al.) when possible. allow users to expand the full address/hash and copy.[UI]
Apply relevance to interrupting messages only for information relevant to the current user.
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[Permanence]
Clarify actions that are irreversible. Clarify and confirm in advance the new future state.[Value]
Clarify actions that involve money or value; when a blockchain is being interacted with. Clarify what actions are not transactions and hence safe.[Privacy]
Clarify actions that could potentially lead to user identification.[Privacy]
Accessibility of user’s interaction history e.g. provided a history of all transactions from a given address.[Privacy]
Transparency of user’s interactions e.g. clarify where is the history stored (local or server).[Privacy]
Provide tools to navigate, search, export, and delete the history cache where possible.[Privacy]
Clarify actions that generate new contracts in the user's name.[UI]
Types of transactions i.e. value transfers, function calls, contract generating.[UI]
When a blockchain event aborts or otherwise fails to complete as expected, the fallback must remain functional with resulting blockchain state clear.[UI]
Allow users to subscribe-to, unsubscribe-from or temporarily mute certain events.
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