Once you've decided which approach you'll take, and you've selected your evaluators, you'll need to brief these people on the ten heuristics you want them to assess your site against.

1. Visibility of System Status
Probably the two most important things that site visitors need to know are:

• "Where am I?" and
• "Where can I go next?".

So it's essential that your interface keeps users informed about what's going on. To test this, your evaluators should look for appropriate feedback within a reasonable time following each user interaction.

For example, once a user clicks the 'Submit' button on your order form, within a few seconds they'll require feedback that tells them their order has been received. This feedback might appear in the form of a separate page, or popup, which also contains a 'back to site' link indicating where the user can go next.

2. Match Between the System and the Real World
The system should speak the users' language, using words, phrases and concepts that are familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Even though you might use what is considered standard jargon for the topic on which your site focuses, consider including a further simplification or explanation of the words you've used.
Your evaluators should make sure you've followed real-world conventions, and that your information appears in a natural and logical order. A real world concept applied on the Web is the shopping cart. On many sites, you click once to select an item (the equivalent of picking it up off the shelf in a real store), click again to "add to basket" (or place it in your trolley) and then a third time to confirm your intention to buy (or move to the checkout).

3. User Control and Freedom
Site visitors often choose system functions by mistake, and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted page without having to go through an extended dialogue. While there's a definite need for order to exist in your site, a greater degree of user control may be required to cater to the needs of more experienced users.
Your evaluators should ensure that your site meets the control requirements of both first-time and experienced users. An example of a control element might be a "home" button that appears on every page. It's a simple way to let users feel in control of the system - they know they can "go home" (or opt-out) at any stage in the process.

4. Consistency and Standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. it's best to follow the uniform and/or platform conventions to which your users are accustomed.
If the user want to return to the main page then label your link "Home" or "Homepage", rather than some obscure reference.

5. Error Prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design that prevents a problem from occurring in the first place.
The best way to avoid errors is to conduct testing, more testing, and even more testing. However, if errors do occur, try to provide user friendly messages in natural language rather than code.

6. Recognition Rather than Recall
Make sure objects, actions, and options are highly visible. Your site visitors shouldn't have to remember information between different parts of their dialogue with your site. Instructions for use of the system should be visible - or at least easily retrievable - whenever your users need them. This increases the chance that your visitors will be able to recognise where they are, so they won't have to retrace their path from the home page.
For example, if you create a Website with a lot of submenus, then use a system that will let the users know what section they are in at all times. You could do this by leaving a breadcrumb trail, or maybe applying a color scheme that differentiates the various sections.

7. Flexibility and Ease of Use
Accelerators, which may be unseen by the novice user, can often speed up the interaction for the expert user, and allow the system to cater to both types of visitors. You might, for instance, allow users to tailor frequent actions.
Take Amazon. They save the personal information that's provided by customers upon purchase. Then, each time the customer makes another purchase, they can retrieve their information with a single click. In this way, Amazon provides customers with a way to avoid filling in an extensive form each time they buy a product at the store.

8. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
Extraneous information on a page is a distraction and a slow-down. Make rarely needed information accessible via a link so that the details are available, but don't interfere with the more relevant content.
If your "Contact Us" page contains a form, as well as all your physical contact details such as address, telephone number etc., there's no need to also include a map with extensive instructions on how to get to your premises. Instead, this can be provided on a linked but separate page - not everyone who fills out the contact form will wish to see the map every time they visit the page.

9. Help Users Recognise, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors
Errors will occur despite all your efforts to prevent them. Your error messages should be expressed in plain language with no codes or jargon. They should detail the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
For example, if a form is completed incorrectly, your error message should alert your visitor to this, identify which fields will need to be refilled, and perhaps highlight those fields when the user returns to complete the form after they dismiss the error message.

10. Help and Documentation
Ideally, every online system could be used without documentation, However, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation to cater to the needs of all users, and be on the safe side.
Your evaluators should check to make sure that help and other documentation:
· is easy to search
· focuses on the user's task
· lists the concrete steps users need to carry out to achieve their goals
· isn't too large
Often, documentation is fully integrated into a Website. There should be links from the main help sections into specific subsections, and vice versa. Help could even be fully integrated into each page so that users never feel like assistance is too far away.

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Last updated February 17th 2002