Usability Heuristics - Principles & Examples

J A K O B N I E L S E N ' S 1 0 G E N E R A L P R I N C I P L E S F O R I N T E R A C T I O N D E S I G N . T H E Y A R E C A L L E D " H E U R I S T I C S "
B E C A U S E T H E Y A R E B R O A D R U L E S O F T H U M B A N D N O T S P E C I F I C U S A B I L I T Y G U I D E L I N E S .
Usability Heuristics
Prof. Manjusha Amritkar
Assistant Professor
Department of Information Technology
Hope Foundation’s
International Institute of Information Technology, I²IT
www.isquareit.edu.in

1. Visibility of System Status
 This principle states that the user should know
what’s going on inside the system. We need to give
a feedback of his/her action within a reasonable
time. This feedback is normally associated with
points of action and can be provided using a color
change, loader, time-left graphics, etc.
 Examples:
1. Twitter making a swoosh sound when a tweet is
being posted.
2. Google Drive showing the status of a document
upload
Hope Foundation’s International Institute of Information Technology, I²IT P-14,Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park
MIDC Phase 1, Hinjawadi, Pune – 411057 Tel - +91 20 22933441/2/3 | www.isquareit.edu.in | info@isquareit.edu.in

2. Match between system and the real world
 Is there something on your application that a
user may not understand? This is very
common to miss since we get associated with
the product for over a period of time. It’s also
important for the application to speak the
language of the target user base.
 Example:
 Neil Patel could very well say “Sign Up” on
his landing page. Instead, he chose to say
ambitiously—“Yes, I want Neil to teach me
how to grow my Business!”. It sets the
context and speaks the everyday language

3. User Control and Freedom
 This principle talks about giving the user
the freedom to navigate and perform
actions. The freedom to undo any
accidental actions.
Examples:
1. Gmail’s flash message with undo action
when we accidentally delete an email.
2. Face book checking if we tapped “Cancel”
by mistake.

4. Consistency and Standards
 Consistency is the key. A Submit button in one page should look the
same across the site on any page. If we show the data in a particular
table format on one page, it should look the same the next time data is
being shown in tabular format. If the header is displayed in a certain way
on the public pages, it should be the same when he/she logs in.
Examples:
 The Submit button in the image is consistent for label, size, style.
 How the same button can transform across different pages of the same
site. Note that this is not a change of state.

5. Error Prevention
 How many times did your outlook remind you
that there is no attachment in the email while you
mentioned that something is attached? Outlook
intuitively scans the email for such keywords and
alerts the user before sending. This is Error
Prevention.
Examples:
1. Google Search trying to correct my spelling.
2. If you have set some rules for the format of user
password, try to validate it as the user types
rather than waiting for him to click submit

6. Recognition rather than recall
 It’s always better to suggest the user a set of options than to let him
remember and type the whole thing. The goal is to minimize the
application of user memory.
Example:
 Quora suggesting possible questions based on what I am trying to
type.

7. Flexibility and Efficiency of use
 The Interface should be flexible transforming itself between a novice user and an
advanced user. One frequents this option while installing a new software that asks if
the user wants to go ahead with default installation or custom installation. An
advanced user chooses a custom installation to cut out the unnecessary services.
Examples:
 1. Control panel gives you option for user accounts and advanced user accounts

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
Interfaces need to be cleared of unnecessary elements and content that do
not support the page goals and tasks.
Prioritization comes to play when this aspect is being considered. For
the designer or the developer, all the information that’s being presented
on the page is relevant. The product manager needs to ask the end user if
it is so. Is every information displayed on interface necessary and useful?
Example:
 Apple provides only the basic information of feature hiding
additional information under “Learn More”. Check the same product on
a retail website to understand the importance of clutter-free experience.

8. Aesthetic and minimalist design

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover
from errors
Errors are inadvertent in the user journey. A check needs to be made if
those errors are being explained to the user in understandable
language.
A check needs to be done if exception handling is done across the
application so that relevant messages can be shown to the user.
Example:
 In many cases for login, I have entered a fictitious username and
password and the error message I got is “either the username or the
password is incorrect”. Here we are not informing the user if the
username is invalid or if the password is wrong.

9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover
from errors

10. Help and Documentation
 If a user has reached this step, something is not right with the interface.
A great user interface lets the user navigate through it;s features
without any documentation or training. But if there is any user who
could not make it out, adequate help should be provided within the
product.
Example:
 GoDaddy’s Help page.
 While there is a search field, there are main categories and frequently
asked queries on the same page

10. Help and Documentation

References
 All contents are referred from following web resource
 https://blog.prototypr.io/10-usability-heuristics-with-examples-
4a81ada920c

THANK YOU
For further details, please contact
Manjusha Amritkar
manjushaa@isquareit.edu.in
Department of Information Technology
Hope Foundation’s
International Institute of Information Technology, I²IT
P-14,Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park
MIDC Phase 1, Hinjawadi, Pune – 411057
Tel - +91 20 22933441/2/3
www.isquareit.edu.in | info@isquareit.edu.in

Usability Heuristics - Principles & Examples

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