Heuristic Principles – Best Practices

1 Visibility of system status

• Feedback: keep user informed about what goes on
• Provide status information
• Feedback: show that input has been received
• Features change as user carries out task
• Feedback provided for all actions
• Feedback timely and accurate
• Indicate progress in task performance
• Direct manipulation: visible objects, visible results
• Identity cues system response vs. user’s goal
• Show icons and other visual indicators
• WYSIWYG; do not hide features

2 Match between system and the real world

• Speak the user’s language
• Contains familiar terms and natural language
• Metaphors from the real world
• Familiar user’s conceptual model
• Use of user’s background knowledge

3 User control and freedom

• Undo e redo should be supported
• Obvious way to undo actions
• Forgiveness: make actions reversible
• Ability to undo prior commands
• Clearly marked exits
• Ability to re-order or cancel tasks
• Modeless interaction
• User control: allow user to initiate/control actions

4 Consistency and standards

• Consistency: express same thing same way
• Consistency: same things look the same
• Uniform command syntax
• Conform to platform interface conventions
• Show similar inf. at same place on each screen

5 Error prevention

• Prevent errors from occurring in the first place
• System designed to prevent errors
• What planning mistakes are most likely ?

6 Recognition rather than recal

• See-and-point instead of remember-and-type
• Make the repertoire of available actions salient
• Seeing and pointing: objects and actions visible
• What features often missed and at what cost ?
• Provide list of choices and picking from list
• Minimise the user’s memory load
• Easy or difficult to perform (execute) tasks ?
• Allow access to operations from other applications
• Show icons and other visual indicators

7 Flexibility and efficiency of use

• Shortcuts: Accelerators should be provided
• User tailorability to speed up frequent actions
• User interface should be customisable

8 Aesthetic and minimalist design:

• Design should be Aesthetic
• Navigation and buttons should be affordance
• Design should be intuitive
• Clutter free
• Interface should have visual cue and affordance
• Affordances provide strong clues to the operations of things.

9 Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

• Error and Exception Handling

10 Help and Documentation

• Help and Documentation should be available