Usability
Usability is composed of,
• Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the rst time they
encounter the design?
• E ciency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
• Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how
easily can they re-establish pro ciency?
• Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily
can they recover from the errors?
• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?
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10 Usability Heuristics
1. Visibility of System Status
2. Match Between System and the Real World
3. User Control and Freedom
4. Consistency and Standards
5. Error Prevention
6. Recognition rather than recall
7. Flexibility and e ciency of use
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover From Errors
10. Help and documentation
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1. Visibility of System Status
1. Every screen begins with a title or a header that describes screen content. Every action
panel should have a sub title or a sub header which describes what it is.
2. A single selected icon, menu item or a tab is clearly visible when surrounded by
unselected icons, menu items or tabs
3. There should be some form of system feedback for every action of the user.
4. There should be a visual indication in menus, dialog boxes or in any-other control about
which choices are selectable.
5. Are response times appropriate to the user's Cognitive Processing?
6. High levels of concentration isn’t necessary and remembering information is not required.
2. Match Between System and the Real World
1. Are icons concrete and familiar?
2. Are the Buttons and Menus naming terminology consistent with the user's
task domain?
3. If a shape is used as a visual cue, does it match with the real-world
conventions?
4. Are processes used in the system concrete and familiar?
5. On data input screens, are tasks described in terminology familiar to users?
3. User Control and Freedom
1. In systems that use modal windows, is it easy for users to exit/dismiss windows on the
screen?
2.When a user's task is complete, does the system wait for a signal from the user before
processing?
3. Are users prompted to con rm commands that have drastic, destructive consequences?
4. Can users cancel out of operations in-progress?
5. Can users undo something which they already did?
6. Can users reduce data entry time by copying and modifying existing data?
7. Can users move forward and backward between elds or screens? at the same time can
they skip not required processes?
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4. Consistency and Standards
1. Have the given UI guideline formatting standards been followed
consistently in all screens within the system?
2. Are eld labels consistent from one screen to another?
3. Are Buttons and Links named consistently across the system?
4. Are Visual Cues consistent across the system?
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5. Error Prevention
1. Is there prompts or indications of expected formats in input elds?
2. Is there necessary guidelines or instructions to avoid errors in a
process?
3. Does the system prevent users from making errors whenever
possible?
4. Have the error prevention mechanism is used consistently throughout
the system?
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6. Recognition rather than recall
1. Are prompts, cues, and messages placed where the eye is likely to be looking
on the screen?
2. Have screen content been formatted using white space, justi cation, and
visual cues for easy scanning?
3. Are required data entry elds and Optional elds clearly marked?
4. Are size, boldface, underlining, color, shading, or typography used to show
importance of di erent screen items?
5. Have the system used “chunks" to break lengthy strings?
6. Are there “defaults” used meaningfully?
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7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
1. Does the system provide shortcut-keys for high-frequency actions?
2. For data entry screens with many elds or in which source documents
may be incomplete, can users save a partially lled screen or have they
provided auto save functionality?
3.Does the application support keys like tabs, arrow keys and enter?
4.Does the application use existing appropriate data to ll forms?
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8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
1. Is only (and all) information essential to decision making displayed on
the screen?
2. Have the whitespacing is used appropriately across the system?
3. Has the design follow design principles like C.R.A.P appropriately.
4. Has the system used appropriate color pallet across the system?
9. Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and
Recover From Errors
1. Are prompts brief and unambiguous.
2. Are error messages worded so that the application, not the user, takes the blame?
3. Do error messages avoid the use of violent or hostile words?
4. If an error is detected in a data entry eld, does the system place the cursor in that eld or highlight the error?
5. Do error messages suggest the cause of the problem?
6. Do error messages indicate what action the user needs to take to correct the error?
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10. Help and documentation
1. Is the information relevant and updated?
2. Navigation: Is information easy to nd?
3. Presentation: Is the visual layout well designed?
4. Conversation: Is the information accurate, complete, and understandable?
5. Is it easy to access and return from the help system?
6. Is there a FAQ?
7. Is there an alternative way to request support in critical situations?
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