Comment Details
Guidelines / Heuristics
Reference a built-in heuristic guideline (Nielsen, Dieter Rams, Shneiderman, Weinschenk & Barker…) on any heurio. Set a global guideline per project or lock a specific rule for rule-by-rule reviews.
How to use guidelines in a Heurio project
Total time: 2 min- Step 1
Set a default (global) guideline for the project
In the extension, open the project settings and pick a guideline. Every new heurio in the project will start with that guideline pre-selected — keeping reviews consistent.
- Step 2
Lock a specific rule for systematic review
Open the Book of Guidelines, pick a rule (e.g. Nielsen's 'Visibility of System Status'), and lock it. Every new heurio will be tagged with that exact rule until you unlock or switch it.
- Step 3
Walk the website rule-by-rule
With a rule locked, click through the site and pin a heurio every time you find a violation. Switch the locked rule when you're done and continue — this gives full guideline coverage.
TL;DR: set a default guideline per project for consistency, lock a single rule when you want rule-by-rule coverage.
Heurio offers a comprehensive set of guidelines that can be referenced when creating heurios on website elements. This guide covers how to set a project-wide default, lock a rule, and learn more about the available guidelines.
#Setting a global guideline
- For each project, users can set a global guideline, providing a default for each heurio created within that project.
- This ensures consistency across the project's heuristic evaluations.
Setting a global guideline system for a project with the Heurio extension.
#Locking a rule (heuristic)
- In the Chrome extension, users can lock a guideline's rule by clicking on the "Book of Guidelines" button in the bottom right corner.
- Select the guideline you need and then click on the rule you wish to lock.
- This option is useful for evaluating a website by each rule of a guideline, allowing for a comprehensive, rule-by-rule review.
- The locked rule will be selected by default for each new heurio in order to make your review more productive.
Locking a rule for making it default for new heurios in the Heurio extension.
#Learn more about default guidelines
Visit Heurio's heuristic guidelines hub for a detailed overview, or compare guidelines side by side to pick the right one for your review.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the difference between a guideline and a rule in Heurio?
- A guideline is a published set of heuristics — for example, Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics. A rule is one item inside that set — for example, 'Visibility of System Status' from Nielsen's. Heurio lets you tag a heurio with both.
- Which guidelines are built in?
- Heurio includes Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics, Dieter Rams' 10 Principles, Shneiderman's 8 Golden Rules, Weinschenk & Barker Classification, Arhippainen's UX Heuristics, Amélie Boucher's Ergonomic Criteria, ISO 9241 Part 110, and Colombo & Pasch's Heuristics. See the full list at /guidelines.
- Can I add my own guideline?
- Yes. Create a custom guideline with your own rules — for example, a corporate design-system checklist. See Custom Guidelines.
- Why would I lock a rule?
- Locking a rule keeps you focused on one specific heuristic across the entire website — instead of jumping between rules. It's the fastest way to run a complete heuristic evaluation when you have multiple reviewers covering different rules.