Heuristic evaluation was used by Jakob Nielsen in 1990 to describe a type of inspection method [5], for identifying usability problems of computer software

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Heuristic Evaluation

Stella Mills

Department of Computing & Multimedia

University of Gloucestershire

The Park

Cheltenham

GL50 2QF, UK

e-mail: smills@glos.ac.uk

Heuristic evaluation was used by Jakob Nielsen in 1990 to describe a type of inspection method [5], for identifying usability problems of computer software and, in particular, the user interface [4]. Heuristic evaluation is the most informal method of usability inspection methods and 'involves having usability specialists judge whether each dialogue element conforms to established usability principles. These principles are normally referred to as the heuristics ...' [1, p.5]. Alternatively, heuristic evaluation is a usability engineering method 'for finding the usability problems in a user interface design so that they can be attended to as part of an iterative design process. Heuristic evaluation involves having a small set of evaluators examine the interface and judge its compliance with recognized usability principles (the "heuristics")' [4]. Usability engineering applies the principles of engineering to user interface design [6].

There is, therefore, no commonly accepted formal definition of an heuristic evaluation but essentially, a number of heuristics or principles are derived, usually from the literature, and then applied to the artifact to be evaluated,