From the course: UX Insights Weekly

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What is a heuristic evaluation?

What is a heuristic evaluation?

From the course: UX Insights Weekly

What is a heuristic evaluation?

- There's no point running a usability test when you already know things are wrong with your design. A fast checkup against a set of best practices will often give you plenty to fix without the hassle and cost of running a set of test sessions. These interface best practices aren't so much rules as guidelines, or heuristics. That's how heuristic evaluations got their name. You probably already do bug bashes to find code issues. Heuristic evaluations are the same kind of thing for interface issues. They're a fun activity to do as a team, and a good way for everyone to learn about user experience. Jakob Nielsen, who first described the heuristic evaluation technique, describes 10 broad areas of interface design that can really make a difference when you get them right. The first one is probably the most general. Can users always tell what's going on? Not you, with your deep knowledge of the system, but a regular user. Next, are messages displayed in language that users understand rather…

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