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10 Heuristics For User Interface Design - Article by Jakob Nielsen

Nielsen Norman Group is hiring both entry-level and experienced UX specialists by March 17th. Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics provide general principles for designing intuitive user interfaces, including visibility of system status, matching design to the real world, and allowing users to recognize needed information rather than relying on memory. The heuristics aim to help users avoid, diagnose, and recover from errors in an aesthetic and efficient manner.

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500 views2 pages

10 Heuristics For User Interface Design - Article by Jakob Nielsen

Nielsen Norman Group is hiring both entry-level and experienced UX specialists by March 17th. Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics provide general principles for designing intuitive user interfaces, including visibility of system status, matching design to the real world, and allowing users to recognize needed information rather than relying on memory. The heuristics aim to help users avoid, diagnose, and recover from errors in an aesthetic and efficient manner.

Uploaded by

callejeroceleste
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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NowHiring:UXSpecialists

NielsenNormanGrouphasjobopeningsforUXSpecialists(bothentryleveland
experiencedcandidateswanted).DeadlineMarch17.

10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design


by JAKOB NIELSENonJanuary1,1995

Topics:HeuristicEvaluation HumanComputerInteraction Standards WebUsability

Summary:JakobNielsen's10generalprinciplesforinteractiondesign.Theyare
called"heuristics"becausetheyarebroadrulesofthumbandnotspecificusability
guidelines.
Visibilityofsystemstatus
Thesystemshouldalwayskeepusersinformedaboutwhatisgoingon,throughappropriatefeedback
withinreasonabletime.

Matchbetweensystemandtherealworld
Thesystemshouldspeaktheusers'language,withwords,phrasesandconceptsfamiliartotheuser,
ratherthansystemorientedterms.Followrealworldconventions,makinginformationappearinanatural
andlogicalorder.

Usercontrolandfreedom
Usersoftenchoosesystemfunctionsbymistakeandwillneedaclearlymarked"emergencyexit"toleave
theunwantedstatewithouthavingtogothroughanextendeddialogue.Supportundoandredo.

Consistencyandstandards
Usersshouldnothavetowonderwhetherdifferentwords,situations,oractionsmeanthesamething.
Followplatformconventions.

Errorprevention
Evenbetterthangooderrormessagesisacarefuldesignwhichpreventsaproblemfromoccurringinthe
firstplace.Eithereliminateerrorproneconditionsorcheckforthemandpresentuserswithaconfirmation
optionbeforetheycommittotheaction.
(Readfullarticleonpreventingusererrors.)

Recognitionratherthanrecall
Minimizetheuser'smemoryloadbymakingobjects,actions,andoptionsvisible.Theusershouldnothave
torememberinformationfromonepartofthedialoguetoanother.Instructionsforuseofthesystemshould
bevisibleoreasilyretrievablewheneverappropriate.
(Readfullarticleonrecognitionvs.recallinUX.)

Flexibilityandefficiencyofuse
Acceleratorsunseenbythenoviceusermayoftenspeeduptheinteractionfortheexpertusersuch
thatthesystemcancatertobothinexperiencedandexperiencedusers.Allowuserstotailorfrequent
actions.

Aestheticandminimalistdesign
Dialoguesshouldnotcontaininformationwhichisirrelevantorrarelyneeded.Everyextraunitof
informationinadialoguecompeteswiththerelevantunitsofinformationanddiminishestheirrelative
visibility.

Helpusersrecognize,diagnose,andrecoverfromerrors
Errormessagesshouldbeexpressedinplainlanguage(nocodes),preciselyindicatetheproblem,and
constructivelysuggestasolution.

Helpanddocumentation
Eventhoughitisbetterifthesystemcanbeusedwithoutdocumentation,itmaybenecessarytoprovide
helpanddocumentation.Anysuchinformationshouldbeeasytosearch,focusedontheuser'stask,list
concretestepstobecarriedout,andnotbetoolarge.

IoriginallydevelopedtheheuristicsforheuristicevaluationincollaborationwithRolfMolichin
1990[MolichandNielsen1990NielsenandMolich1990].Isincerefinedtheheuristicsbased
onafactoranalysisof249usabilityproblems[Nielsen1994a]toderiveasetofheuristicswith
maximumexplanatorypower,resultinginthisrevisedsetofheuristics[Nielsen1994b].
SeeAlso:
Bruce"Tog"Tognazzini'slistofbasicprinciplesforinterfacedesign.Thelistisslightlytoolongforheuristic
evaluationbutservesasausefulchecklist.
Examplesofthe10heuristicsinWebapplications.
The10usabilityheuristicsappliedtoeverydaylife(justforfun).
Fullsetof2,397usabilityguidelines(acrossmultiplereports).
References

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