name	dec-nielsen-heuristics
description	Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics — the bedrock checklist for evaluating any interface. Use when running a heuristic evaluation, reviewing a screen for usability problems, justifying a UX critique, or sanity-checking that status, error recovery, consistency, and undo are handled.
tags	["usability","heuristics","nielsen","evaluation","ux","always-on"]

Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics

The canonical evaluation lens. Walk any interface against all ten; each violation is a concrete, fixable defect.

Visibility of system status — keep users informed with timely feedback.
Match between system and the real world — speak the user's language, follow real-world conventions.
User control and freedom — clear undo / redo / escape hatches from mistaken states.
Consistency and standards — same word/action means the same thing; follow platform conventions.
Error prevention — design out error conditions before they happen (confirmations, constraints).
Recognition rather than recall — make options, actions, and objects visible; minimize memory load.
Flexibility and efficiency of use — accelerators (shortcuts, defaults) for experts, without blocking novices.
Aesthetic and minimalist design — every extra unit of information competes with the relevant.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors — plain-language messages, precise problem, constructive fix.
Help and documentation — searchable, task-focused, concrete steps, kept small.

Use as a scored audit: rate each heuristic 0 (violated) → 4 (fully met) per screen.
Pair #5 (prevention) and #9 (recovery) — prevent first, recover gracefully second.
#6 vs recall: if a user must remember something from a prior screen, that's a violation — surface it.

name	dec-nielsen-heuristics
description	Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics — the bedrock checklist for evaluating any interface. Use when running a heuristic evaluation, reviewing a screen for usability problems, justifying a UX critique, or sanity-checking that status, error recovery, consistency, and undo are handled.
tags	["usability","heuristics","nielsen","evaluation","ux","always-on"]

The canonical evaluation lens. Walk any interface against all ten; each violation is a concrete, fixable defect.

Visibility of system status — keep users informed with timely feedback.
Match between system and the real world — speak the user's language, follow real-world conventions.
User control and freedom — clear undo / redo / escape hatches from mistaken states.
Consistency and standards — same word/action means the same thing; follow platform conventions.
Error prevention — design out error conditions before they happen (confirmations, constraints).
Recognition rather than recall — make options, actions, and objects visible; minimize memory load.
Flexibility and efficiency of use — accelerators (shortcuts, defaults) for experts, without blocking novices.
Aesthetic and minimalist design — every extra unit of information competes with the relevant.
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors — plain-language messages, precise problem, constructive fix.
Help and documentation — searchable, task-focused, concrete steps, kept small.

Use as a scored audit: rate each heuristic 0 (violated) → 4 (fully met) per screen.
Pair #5 (prevention) and #9 (recovery) — prevent first, recover gracefully second.
#6 vs recall: if a user must remember something from a prior screen, that's a violation — surface it.

dec-nielsen-heuristics