--- title: "Jakob’s Law" url: "https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/jakobs-law" language: "en" description: "What is Jakob’s Law? A plain explanation with its origin, an example and practical tips. Learn when to follow conventions and when to break them." published: "2026-10-14T15:19:36+02:00" updated: "2026-10-14T15:19:36+02:00" --- # Jakob’s Law Jakob’s Law states that people spend most of their time on other websites, so they expect yours to work the same way as the ones they already know. - **Buchstabe:** J - **Englischer Begriff:** Jakob’s Law UX glossary · engl. Jakob’s Law # Jakob’s Law Jakob’s Law states that people spend most of their time on other websites, so they expect yours to work the same way as the ones they already know. Imagine you visit an online store for the first time. You look for the cart in the top right corner, but there’s nothing there. After a while, you spot it in the bottom left as a tiny box icon. By then, you’ve already bought elsewhere. The store didn’t break anything. It just let down an expectation you bring from countless other stores. ## Explained simply Jakob’s Law goes back to usability expert Jakob Nielsen, who formulated it in 2000 as “Jakob’s Law of the Internet User Experience.” The core idea: people spend most of their time on other websites. That’s why they expect your website to work like the ones they already know. Think of renting an unfamiliar car. You expect the brake pedal to sit to the left of the accelerator. A manufacturer that swapped them might be original, but also dangerous. On the web, the stakes are lower, but the principle is the same. Logo in the top left linking to the homepage, a magnifying glass for search, the cart in the top right: these conventions are learned patterns, and they support the [mental model](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/mental-model) of the people using your site. ## Convention or innovation? Jakob’s Law doesn’t forbid anything new. In essence, Nielsen advises sticking with familiar patterns unless a departure is clearly better. Even a modest improvement may not pay off if people have to relearn things and the learning effort eats up the gain. New patterns win when they offer a clear advantage or meet a new need. For entirely new interaction styles, Nielsen suggests watching what products converge on and then adopting those patterns quickly. This ties in with the “consistency and standards” heuristic from his [10 Usability Heuristics](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/ressourcen/10-usability-heuristics). ## An example Here’s an example: a sports club portal shows its navigation as a circular menu that only opens after clicking the club logo in the center. New members spend minutes looking for training times, and support requests pile up. After the redesign, there’s a classic navigation bar at the top and a familiar [hamburger menu](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/hamburger-menu) on small screens. The circular menu is gone. The content is the same, but people find it right away because it’s where they expect it. ## In practice - **Look at what your audience already knows.** Check how the websites and apps your audience uses every day are structured, and build on their patterns. - **Only break conventions for a good reason.** When you introduce a new pattern, run a round of [usability testing](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/usability-testing) to see whether it really works better than the familiar one. - **Give people time to adjust after a redesign.** A preview or the option to switch back to the old version for a while takes the pressure off. You’ll find more principles like this in the [Laws of UX](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/ressourcen/laws-of-ux) resource. ## Related terms [Mental Model](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/mental-model), [Heuristic Evaluation](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/heuristic-evaluation), [Design System](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/design-system), [Hamburger Menu](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/hamburger-menu) ## Sources - [Jakob Nielsen: End of Web Design. Nielsen Norman Group, 2000](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/end-of-web-design/) - [Jakob Nielsen: Jakob’s Law of the Internet User Experience. Substack](https://jakobnielsenphd.substack.com/p/jakobs-law) - [Jon Yablonski: Jakob’s Law. Laws of UX](https://lawsofux.com/jakobs-law/) ## More terms [ ### A/B Testing An A/B test is an experiment that shows two versions of a page or element at the same time to randomly split groups of visitors. It lets you decide with real data which version works better. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/a-b-testing) [ ### ARIA ARIA is a W3C standard that adds roles, states and properties to HTML. It tells screen readers what an element is and how it currently behaves. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/aria) [ ### Accessibility Accessibility means designing websites, apps and digital documents so that everyone can use them, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disabilities. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/accessibility) [ ### Affordance An affordance describes what action an object makes possible and whether people can recognize it: a button invites you to press it, a handle invites you to pull. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/affordance) [ ### Alt Text Alt text is a short text version of an image, stored in the HTML alt attribute. Screen readers read it aloud so people who can’t see the image get the same information. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/alt-text) [ ### Atomic Design Atomic Design is a method for building user interfaces from small, reusable building blocks, from single elements like buttons all the way up to complete pages. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/atomic-design) [ ### BFSG The BFSG, Germany’s Accessibility Strengthening Act, has required many companies since 28 June 2025 to make certain products and digital services, such as online shops, accessible. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/bfsg) [ ### Card Sorting Card sorting is a research method in which people sort terms written on cards into groups. It shows you how they mentally organize content, so you can plan navigation that makes sense to them. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/card-sorting) [ ### Cognitive Load Cognitive load is the mental effort it takes to understand and use an interface. The less unnecessary thinking a design demands, the easier the actual task becomes. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/cognitive-load) [ ### Color Vision Deficiency A color vision deficiency means someone has a harder time telling certain colors apart than most people. The most common type is red-green deficiency. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/color-vision-deficiency) [ ### Contextual Inquiry Contextual inquiry is a research method where you observe and interview people in their real work environment. It shows you how they actually get tasks done, not just how they describe it. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/contextual-inquiry) [ ### Contrast Ratio The contrast ratio describes how much two colors differ in brightness, such as text and background. WCAG requires at least 4.5:1 for normal text. ](https://www.insideuxdesign.com/en/glossar/contrast-ratio)