10 Usability heuristics explained …
If you haven’t read the part 1 please check it out here.
06. Recognition rather than recall
Minimize the user’s memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.
When a user returns to an eCommerce site like Amazon and eBay, the personalised home page includes a list of recently viewed items, suggestions by your browsing history and recommendations through your purchase history.
When you google, it gives you list suggestions as you type in based on your previous searches and related most searches. It also lists your matching bookmarks as well.
07. Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.
While a novice user uses the default google image search, the expert user always can refine the search by size, colour, type, and so on.
08. Aesthetic and minimalist design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
Google search and account login is an excellent example of minimalist design, and it has only the required information to perform the primary task. In contrast, in yahoo, it is cluttered with so many irrelevant details.
09. Help users recognise, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
When there is an error you should not panic user, you need to help them recover by suggesting a solution. This error message assures you are safe and suggest some alternative links.
This funny error message keeps the audience engaged, while relevant links keep you on your website.
10. Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user’s task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.
You can provide any extra information that would be useful to users, along with the label. But you should do so only if it is necessary.
WSO2 products quick start guide is an excellent example for documentation. It’s well organised, structured and contains the minimal information that requires to install and use a product quickly.
So now you have an idea on how to relate heuristics into your products. These are simple examples, and you need to be creative in evaluating and providing solutions for your products.
There is a chrome extension that you can use to evaluate your products and share with your team members.
UX Check tool will show you the ten heuristics and will allow you to evaluate each element and provide comments and suggestions. UX Check will capture a screenshot along with your notes and recommendations, saving all into a document so that you can easily share with team members.
This is inspired by “Craft Design” slide share.
Have a look at my other articles
User Experience Maturity Model
Constituent Parts of User Experience Design
The core concept of UX Process
