Nielsen's 10 heuristics
Nielsen's ten usability heuristics and the heuristic evaluation that uses them: linking a flaw to the heuristic it breaks, proposing the fix and judging severity.
- 39 cards
- 4 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- Scenarios
A few cards from the deck
Visibility of system status: what is it?
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The interface keeps the user informed of what it is doing, through suitable feedback and without undue delay.
A progress bar during an export, a button that changes state on click: without them, the user starts over or thinks it has crashed.
The user clicks “Send”: the message goes, but nothing changes on screen. Which heuristic is broken?
- Visibility of system status
- Error prevention
- Help and documentation
- Consistency and standards
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Visibility of system status
The user cannot tell whether sending worked and may try again. Informing about the system's state is exactly what the first heuristic asks.
In a heuristic evaluation, … evaluators first inspect the interface …, then pool the problems they found.
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In a heuristic evaluation, several evaluators first inspect the interface on their own, then pool the problems they found.
A single evaluator misses many problems. Nielsen advises 3 to 5 evaluators, each judging alone so that opinions do not sway each other.
User control and freedom: what is it?
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When users take a wrong action, they have a clearly marked emergency exit: undo, redo, go back.
A deletion that can be undone for a few seconds makes the mistake harmless, whereas a confirmation each time wears attention down.
A click on “Delete” erases the folder, with no confirmation and no way back. Which heuristic is broken and which fix fits?
- Visibility of status: show a progress bar
- User control and freedom: allow the deletion to be undone
- Help and documentation: add a help page about deleting
- Consistency: rename “Delete” to “Erase” everywhere
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User control and freedom: allow the deletion to be undone
The user may misclick and has no emergency exit. A temporary undo fixes the flaw without burdening every deletion with a confirmation.