Web and UX + UI Design Principles = Heuristic Principles (Derived from Nielsen's Heuristics)

Pros of Heuristic Evaluation

*Heuristics can help the evaluators focus their attention on certain issues *Heuristic evaluation does not carry the ethical and practical issues/problems associated with inspection methods involving real users. *Evaluating designs (UI) using a set of heuristics can help identify usability problems with individual elements and how they impact the overall user experience (UX).

Error prevention.

design systems so that potential errors are kept to a minimum. (reduce problems) Users do not like to detect & remedy (solve) problems, which may be beyond their level of expertise.

Who is involved?

evaluators examining the interface (UI) and judging its compliance (obey the rules) with recognized usability principles (the "heuristics").

Heuristic

is a principle or rule of thumb which can be used to evaluate usability in interaction design.

Heuristic Evaluation

is one where a researcher walk through a product and compare it to the heuristics (rules of usability) and make their own assessment as to whether the product follows these rules of thumb or not.

Nielsen and Molich's 10 rules of thumb

1. Visibility of system status. 2. Match between system and the real world. 3. User control and freedom. 4 Consistency and standards. 5. Error prevention. 6. Recognition rather than recall. 7. Flexibility and efficiency of use. 8.Aesthetic and minimalist design. 9. Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors. 10. Help and documentation.

Cons of Heuristic Evaluation

Choosing appropriate heuristics is extremely important; if the wrong set of heuristics is employed, certain usability problems may be overlooked. Heuristic evaluation might be relatively time-consuming when compared to other 'quick and dirty' inspection methods, such as simple walkthroughs with a small sample of users. Unlike cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic evaluation is based on preconceived notions of what makes 'good' usability. Problems identified by evaluators can often be false alarms.

Help users recognize, diagnose and recover from errors.

Designers should assume users are unable to understand technical terminology, therefore, error messages should almost always be expressed in plain language to ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

Match between system and the real world.

Designers should try to speak the language & concepts users use

How do you design for preventing errors?

Eliminating actions that may result in errors is a possible way of achieving this.

Why should designers match between the system & real world

If you present information in logical order then user's expectations are the same as their real-world experiences. This will reduce cognitive strain and make systems easier to use.

Consistency and standards.

Interface designers should ensure that both the graphic elements and terminology are maintained across similar platforms.(uniform) **For example, an icon that represents one category or concept should not represent a different concept when used on a different screen.**

Aesthetic and minimalist design.

Keep clutter to a minimum. All unnecessary information competes for the user's limited attentional resources, which could inhibit user's memory retrieval of relevant information. Therefore, the display must be reduced to only the necessary components for the current tasks, while providing clearly visible and unambiguous means of navigating to other content.

Recognition rather than recall.

Minimize cognitive load by maintaining task-relevant information within the display while users explore the interface. (limitations of short-term memory),

User control and freedom.

Offer users a digital space where backward steps are possible, including undoing and redoing previous actions. Think "Emergency Exit".

Visibility of system status.

Users should always be informed of system operations with easy to understand and highly visible status displayed on the screen within a reasonable amount of time.

Flexibility and efficiency of use.

With increased use comes the demand for less interactions that allow faster navigation. *achieved by using abbreviations, function keys, hidden commands and macro facilities. Users should be able to customize or tailor the interface to suit their needs so that frequent actions can be achieved through more convenient means.

What is a heuristic?

usability rules

What are Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles used for

used for interaction design. They are called "heuristics" because they are broad rules of thumb and NOT SPECIFICALLY USABILITY GUIDELINES.

Help and documentation.

want users to navigate the system without having to resort to documentation. BUT help documentation may be necessary. When users require help, ensure it is easily located, specific to the task at hand and worded in a way that will guide them through the necessary steps towards a solution to the issue they are facing.