Melvyl Accessibility
Review

Nielsen’s 10 usability principles

Nielsen (2001) coined the phase usable HCI and recommended 10 usability principles:

1. Visibility of system status:

always keep users informed about what is going on, throug providing appropriate feedback within reasonable time

2. Match between system and real world:

speak the users' language, using words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms

3. User control and freedom:

provide ways of allowing users to easily excape from places the unecpectedly find themselves, by using clearly marked :emergency exits"

4. Consistency and standards:

avoid making users wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing

5. Help users recongize, diagonse and recover from errors:

use plain language to decribe the nature of the problem and suggest a way of solving it

6. Error prevention:

where possible prevent errors foccurring in the first place

7. Recongnition reather then recall:

make objects, actions, and options visible

8. Flexibility and efficiency of use:

provide accelerators that are invisible to noivce users, but allow more experienced users to carry out tasks more quickly

9. Aesthetic and minimalist design:

avoid using information that is irelevant or rarely needed

10. Help and documentation:

provide information that can be easily searched and provides help in a set of concrete steps that can easily be followed