20.9. Use Guidelines in Interface Builder

When it comes to building interfaces, Apple insists that you follow many human interface rules to ensure the best experience. There are so many human interface rules that it can be difficult to keep them all straight sometimes. To help you with this, Interface Builder offers a great feature in the form of guidelines. When you drag controls around your interface, Interface Builder displays lines in the interface to help you align controls and place them according to the Human Interface Guidelines.

Pay attention to these interface suggestions! They make it a snap to follow the stringent interface guidelines in Mac OS X and help you create software that follows the Apple standards. Doing so results in software that's easier to use by more people. If you follow your own rules, you're bound to hear complaints. Macintosh users expect a certain user experience. If you stray from it, your users won't be happy.