If you are wondering why a page or feature is not working for the user, do a heuristic evaluation to uncover potential probelms.
What is it?Usability rating
The checklist
Usability rating
(1) Showstopper (2) Major issue (3) Minor issue (4) Good (Blank) NA
Minor issues are considered small UI glitches that don’t hamper the experience but could be annoying.
Major issues could be interactions fails or content that is displayed badly. These issues may not stop the user completing their goals, but it could stop them from doing so next time.
Showstoppers need to be fixed immediately, no buts.
The checklist
To make it easier to review your project, we broke the checklist down in to the following sections.
Appearance & aesthetics
First impressions are important - determines stay/leave (no return).
- Primary goal/purpose is clear
- Clean simple design
- Pleasing color scheme
- Appropriate use of white space
- Consistent design
- Text and colors are consistent
- Icons are universally understood
Content
Users are here for content/work - Make it easy to find what they are looking for and use user site.
- Major titles are easy to understand
- Easy to scan
- Minimal text information presented
- Clear terminology
- Links are clear and follow conventions
- Help is easily available
- Call to action is clear and easy to follow
- Search box is easy to identify and easy to use
Navigation
Makes getting around your site easy and takes the guesswork out of user’s visit.
- Consistent navigation
- Easy to identify my location on the site (breadcrumbs, headers, colors)
- Consistent way to return home
- Limited number of buttons & Links
- Organization of information makes sense
Efficiency & functionality
Following basic rules will keep user frustration to a minimum.
- Site loads quickly
- Custom 404 error
- Error messages are meaningful
- Login is easy to find
- Logout is in upper right corner of page
- User knows if they are logged in or out
- Proper etiquette for links off site (?)
- No broken links
- Contact information is easy to find
- User knows the status of searches
- System support undo and redo (?)
- Fail safes for important changes
- System has an emergency exit (?)
- Forms Autofill and calculate when practical
User Interaction
- Are the Interactive elements visible
- Is it easy to detect that interactive elements are interactive
- Does the user get immediate feedback on actions
- Can this feedback be easily associated with the action
- Are clear constraints applied to the interactive elements (is it clear what can be done)
- Do the interactive elements have strong affordance
- (is it clear from looking at them what to do with them)
- Do the interactive elements follow a consistent pattern
- Is there good mapping between the control and the effect it has on the world