One job per screen

All the features are there, yet the product feels tiring to use. Because everything on the page weighs the same, every screen starts with a multiple-choice question.

A page should have one clear main task. The user came here to do that one thing, and everything else on the page gives way to it: smaller, pushed further back, or folded into navigation entirely.

When you ask AI to generate a page, it tends to lay out every feature you mentioned at the same weight, because it has no reason to think one matters more than another. You say "build a dashboard with a project list, a data panel, team management, messages, and settings," and it gives you five equally sized cards. Each one exists, none stands out — the user walks in and faces a multiple-choice question.

That is the source of "all the features are there but it is exhausting to use." Feature-complete and clearly prioritized are two different things. AI can get you the first; only you can decide the second.

To judge whether a page passes, ask one question: if the user could tap only one thing on this page, which should it be? If you cannot answer, the page is not designed yet.

How to find that one thing

• 看用户是从哪来的。从搜索结果进来的详情页，主任务是确认这是不是他要找的；从推送进来的，主任务是看那条更新。
• 看统计。如果已经上线，八成的点击集中在一两个位置，那就是主任务，页面应该照着它重排。
• 看频率。每天做的事放最外面，每月做一次的收进设置，一次性的（比如初始化配置）做完就该消失。

Where the low-frequency features go

What you push off the first screen does not disappear — it lands in the navigation. There are basically four nav forms, and which one to pick depends on how many top-level modules the system has.

Design considerations

• One main task gets one primary button — no second button of equal weight on the same screen. Two equally prominent buttons means no primary button. Demote secondary actions to text links or ghost buttons; pull visual weight apart by three times or more, and the user's eye lands where it should on its own.
• Tuck low-frequency features into the nav, off the first screen. Billing, member management, integration config — things you touch once a month — belong in the top menu or settings. Their only effect on the first screen is to dilute the main task.
• Prefer one more page over cramming two jobs into one. Pages are cheap; attention is expensive. Forcing two tasks onto one screen means the user has to figure out which half they're in every single time. Splitting into two pages with a clear entry is actually faster.
• Build hierarchy with position and size, not borders and fills. Adding a gray background to push a secondary module back usually does the opposite — every new block of color is a new visual focus. What actually pushes it back is shrinking, lowering, or removing the icon.
• Reserve the non-scrolling part of the first screen for the main task and its context. The part visible without scrolling is the most expensive real estate. It should answer where the user is and what they can do — not host an announcement bar or promo slot.
• The same page may have different main tasks for different roles. Admins come in to approve; members come in to submit. Rather than one compromise page that accommodates both, render different main regions per role and keep the nav consistent.

A note for AI

AI will not judge priorities on its own — you have to write them into the spec. This template works for any new page.

页面：[页面名]
用户从哪来：[入口，比如"从侧边栏点进来" / "从邮件通知点进来"]

主任务（这个页面只服务这一件事）：
[一句话，比如"快速回到最近在做的项目"]

页面上还需要出现，但都属于次要的：
- [次要项 1]
- [次要项 2]

低频功能，收进顶部导航或设置页，不要出现在首屏：
- [低频项...]

布局约束：
- 整页只有一个主按钮，对应主任务。次要操作用文字链接或
  幽灵按钮，视觉重量必须明显低于主按钮。
- 不滚动就能看到的区域，只放主任务和它必要的上下文。
- 次要模块靠缩小字号、下移位置来降级，不要用灰底或加边框。

先用一段文字描述你打算的布局顺序和每块的视觉权重，
我确认之后你再写代码。

If the layout AI returns describes three or more modules as "important," the main task is not yet defined. Go back and fix the spec; do not tune the code.

Related Patterns

Real Examples