Use recommendations when the system ranks suggested items from context, behavior, item similarity, popularity, or model output; related links when editors curate onward destinations from the current page; recently viewed when the list is the user's actual history; and browse by category when users choose from a taxonomy.
Use recommendations when the system ranks suggested items from context, behavior, item similarity, popularity, or model output; related links when editors curate onward destinations from the current page; recently viewed when the list is the user's actual history; and browse by category when users choose from a taxonomy.
Practice the judgment: Imagine this situation: The product mixes ads, recents, saved items, editorial links, and algorithmic suggestions under one vague heading. Write the person's goal, choose one of these patterns, and show the state that helps the person continue. Use the decision rules and source trail below to explain your choice.
Review the underlying principle →| Dimension | Recommendations | Related links | Recently viewed | Browse by category |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UI or UX | UI + UX - Ranked suggestions generated from context, behavior, item similarity, popularity, editorial rules, or recommendation models | UI + UX - Curated onward links connected to the current content | UI + UX - Automatic list of items the current user opened recently | UI + UX - Taxonomy-based category navigation for exploring a collection before choosing a destination |
| UI guidance | Render recommendations as a labelled set of suggested items with clear item identity, recommendation reason, source or basis, availability, and a visible way to dismiss or tune at least the current item. | Render a short, labelled collection of links whose destinations are closely related to the current content, using destination-specific link text and optional relation labels such as service, guidance, external, or PDF. | Render a labelled list or rail of items the current user actually opened, ordered most recent first, with enough identity to recognize each item such as name, type, thumbnail or icon, location, status, and last-viewed time. | Render categories as a scannable list or grid with user-facing names, short descriptions, item counts or example contents, and clear parent-child location cues. |
| UX guidance | Use recommendations to reduce discovery effort when the system has evidence that a small set of items, products, services, content, or next actions may be useful in the user's current context. | Use related links to support users who have finished or understood the current content and need a relevant next page, adjacent service, reference, or follow-up resource. | Use recently viewed to reduce re-finding effort when users compare items, pause work, resume documents, or return to records they inspected during the current or recent sessions. | Maintain the taxonomy with evidence from content tagging, search terms, analytics, tree testing, support questions, and editorial review so category labels stay distinct and useful. |
| Good UI | A commerce product page shows Pairs well with this camera, hides out-of-stock accessories, limits the rail to three visible items, and marks manually selected merchant recommendations separately from generated recommendations. | A benefits guidance page ends with Related links: Check eligibility for support, Upload evidence for your claim, and Appeal a support decision, each with a concise relation label. | A procurement dashboard shows Recently viewed records with title, record type, status, project, last-viewed time, and a remove control for each row. | A services page lists Benefits, Housing and local services, Money and tax, and Driving and transport with one-line descriptions and top tasks for each category. |
| Bad UI | A recommendation list keeps showing unavailable, out-of-stock, permission-restricted, or already dismissed items because the UI only validates card shape. | A page ends with More information containing Home, Contact us, Apply now, Old 2018 guidance, Help, and an unrelated account settings link. | Recent history becomes a surveillance surface on shared accounts or screen shares. | Category names overlap and users bounce between siblings. |
| Good UX | A signed-out shopper sees Popular in backpacks rather than fake personalized copy, then gets personalized reasons only after activity exists and consent settings allow it. | A user reads claim renewal guidance, chooses Upload evidence for your claim, and sees why that destination is the next useful service page. | A user on a shared account removes an unexpected document from the recent list and understands that Favorites are stored separately. | An editor reviews low-click categories, merges overlapping labels, and retags misplaced content after checking search terms and support questions. |
| Bad UX | Users assume recommendations are mandatory next steps because the UI mixes them with required workflow tasks. | Users follow a generic More information link and land on an unrelated policy collection. | Users trust a Recently viewed rail as a recommendation and choose an irrelevant item because sponsored content was mixed into history. | Users choose Customers because they need customer support, but the category contains only internal CRM configuration articles. |
| Best fit | Users need discovery help in a large item, product, content, service, or action space. | The current page has a few genuinely adjacent pages, services, programs, or resources users often need next. | Users inspect multiple objects and often need to return to one they recently opened. | Users are exploring a broad catalog, service directory, help center, learning library, product collection, or content repository. |
| Avoid when | The product has too few items for ranking to reduce effort. | Links are only loosely associated by topic tags or organizational ownership. | The team wants to promote products, recommend next actions, or show related content rather than return personal history. | The collection is small enough for a simple list. |
| Required state | Default recommended state with labelled section, item identity, reason, source, and action controls. | Default state with a labelled, curated related-links block and descriptive link text. | Empty or hidden state before any qualifying item has been viewed. | Top-level category state with clear names, descriptions, and enough examples or counts to choose. |
| Accessibility burden | Make recommendation reasons, sponsored labels, availability, and item type available as text. | Use descriptive link text that makes sense out of context. | Use a heading or labelled region that describes the scope of the list. | Use real links for categories that navigate and buttons only for local expansion. |
| Common misuse | Pretending generated suggestions are recently viewed, saved, or required steps. | Using related links as a catch-all further-reading dump. | Filling recently viewed with recommendations, ads, popular items, or related content. | Using the organization chart as the category taxonomy. |