Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics
Ten broad rules of thumb for finding usability problems in any interface.
Why it matters
They give a fast, shared way to review a design, before or alongside user testing.
The essentials
- Visibility of system status
- Match between the system and the real world
- User control and freedom
- Consistency and standards
- Error prevention
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
- Aesthetic and minimalist design
- Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors
- Help and documentation
How to use it
- Review each screen against all ten.
- Have several reviewers work separately, then compare.
- Rate each issue by severity.
Example
A progress bar during upload satisfies "visibility of system status". An Undo button satisfies "user control and freedom".