Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics

The canonical evaluation lens. Walk any interface against all ten; each violation is a concrete, fixable defect.

1. 1Visibility of system status — keep users informed with timely feedback.
2. 2Match between system and the real world — speak the user's language, follow real-world conventions.
3. 3User control and freedom — clear undo / redo / escape hatches from mistaken states.
4. 4Consistency and standards — same word/action means the same thing; follow platform conventions.
5. 5Error prevention — design out error conditions before they happen (confirmations, constraints).
6. 6Recognition rather than recall — make options, actions, and objects visible; minimize memory load.
7. 7Flexibility and efficiency of use — accelerators (shortcuts, defaults) for experts, without blocking novices.
8. 8Aesthetic and minimalist design — every extra unit of information competes with the relevant.
9. 9Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors — plain-language messages, precise problem, constructive fix.
10. 10Help and documentation — searchable, task-focused, concrete steps, kept small.

How to apply

• Use as a scored audit: rate each heuristic 0 (violated) → 4 (fully met) per screen.
• Pair #5 (prevention) and #9 (recovery) — prevent first, recover gracefully second.
• #6 vs recall: if a user must remember something from a prior screen, that's a violation — surface it.