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follows these heuristics or not. Nine usability heuristics were proposed
initially for this method by its originators [5], and one was added later
[27]. These ten heuristics were refined in a study where a factor analysis
was performed on 249 usability problems from 11 systems to find the set
having the greatest explanatory power [27]; they could be used together to
explain most previously found problems. This study resulted in a set called
Ten Usability Heuristics
[4][28],
which proved to be excellent for finding
new problems. This set encompasses: (1) visibility of system status, (2)
match between the 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 efficiency of use, (8)
aesthetic and minimalist design, (9) help users recognize, diagnose and
recover from errors, and (10) help and documentation. Each heuristic is
linked with an explanation to aid evaluators, and generate ideas during
evaluation. For example, heuristic visibility (1) of system status is
explained as “the system should keep users informed about what is going
on, through feedback within reasonable time” [4][28]. Questions when
evaluating could be: “Is status feedback provided continuously? How is it
provided, e.g. are progress indicators or messages provided and clearly
visible?”
This original set has been used successfully. There is ongoing work in
refining the set and its applicability to different areas, platforms, etc. For
example, the authors of the textbook
Interaction Design
[20] provide an
online interactive tool which suggests which heuristics to choose for what
artifact, e.g. mobile phone, tablet PC, interactive kiosk, etc. [29].
Regarding information visualization, the set of
Ten Usability
Heuristics
is limited in many aspects, and efforts are made to overcome its
insufficiency. Existing research in information visualization includes
heuristics specific to certain visualization techniques. Baldano et al.
presented eight guidelines for the design and use of multiple view
representations [30]. They also present areas where the guidelines have
major positive and negative impacts on the utility of the representations,
such as memory, learning, comparison and context switching. Heer and
Robertson [31] presented a set of heuristics specific to creating effective
animated transitions between common statistical representations of data.
Mankoff et al. [32] proposed heuristics to be used when evaluating
ambient displays that present information in the periphery of user's
attention. They also compared their outcomes with the outcome of
Nielsen's 10 heuristics by evaluating two displays. The results favoured
their heuristics.
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