Survey of Design and Media Art | |
Instructor: Lindsay Grace |
Ten Usability Heuristics
by Jakob Nielsen
Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going
on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts
familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world
conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.
User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked
"emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go
through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.
Consistency and standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions
mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.
Error prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a
problem from occurring in the first place.
Recognition rather than recall
Make 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.
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.
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.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely
indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
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.