1. Visibility of system status
The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.Watch video
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Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics
Jakob Nielsen's 10 general principles for interaction design.
Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics, first published by Jakob Nielsen in 1994, remain the most widely used checklist in UX design today. They aren't strict interface rules but broad rules of thumb — the kind of principles you hold up against any product to spot where users are likely to get lost, frustrated, or surprised.
Heuristic evaluation against Nielsen's 10 is the default method for surfacing usability issues without running a full user test. Two to five reviewers walk through the product, flag each violation, and rate its severity. In practice, three evaluators tend to catch around 60% of the usability issues a wider study would find — at a fraction of the cost.
Use Nielsen's 10 when you're reviewing a general-purpose product interface: a SaaS app, a checkout flow, an onboarding screen, a dashboard, or a marketing site. They work equally well for desktop, mobile, and web. When you need something more formal or standards-compliant, pair them with ISO 9241; when you need something design-systems-flavored, pair them with Dieter Rams' principles.
2. Match between system and the real world
The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order.Watch video
3. User control and freedom
Users often choose system functions by mistake and will need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state without having to go through an extended dialogue. Support undo and redo.Watch video
4. Consistency and standards
Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Follow platform conventions.Watch video
5. Error prevention
Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Either eliminate error-prone conditions or check for them and present users with a confirmation option before they commit to the action.Watch video
6. Recognition rather than recall
Minimize the user's memory load by making objects, actions, and options visible. The user should not have to remember information from one part of the dialogue to another. Instructions for use of the system should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate.Watch video
7. Flexibility and efficiency of use
Accelerators — unseen by the novice user — may often speed up the interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow users to tailor frequent actions.Watch video
8. Aesthetic and minimalist design
Dialogues should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information in a dialogue competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.Watch video
9. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Error messages should be expressed in plain language (no codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.Watch video
10. Help and documentation
Even though it is better if the system can be used without documentation, it may be necessary to provide help and documentation. Any such information should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, list concrete steps to be carried out, and not be too large.Watch video
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Compare with another guideline
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Dieter Rams' 10 vs Nielsen's 10
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Nielsen's 10 vs Shneiderman's 8
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Nielsen's 10 vs Norman's 6
Nielsen's 10 heuristics audit interfaces for usability problems; Norman's 6 principles diagnose the cognitive friction behind them. Side-by-side, with Heurio.
See it in action
Nielsen's 10, on a live URL, in one click.
Click anywhere on a real page, drop a heurio, pick the Nielsen's 10 rule it violates. No screenshots, no Loom, no separate doc.