From the article Zebra Striping: Does it Really Help?:

- no difference in speed or accuracy
- 46% preferred it, 33% didn’t care

If you are going to use zebra striping, keep it subtle.

Update: a followup post with more research confirming this approach.

From Joel Spolsky’s article User Interface Design for Programmers:

- A user interface is well-designed when the program behaves exactly how the user thought it would.
- Don’t provide options unless the user really wants to choose
- Use real-world metaphors
- Affordances
- Consistency with existing standards (good or bad)
- Users don’t read manuals
- Users don’t read anything (make text concise)
- Users can’t control the mouse very well (large click targets)
- Users can’t remember anything