Heuristics are the general principles of interaction design. They are more like broad rules of thumb and not specific usability guidelines. An evaluator uses heuristics to measure design usability and assess problem severity. Simply put, evaluators study a screen or an interaction and see if they meet usability standards.

Jacob Nielsen's heuristics are the most commonly used list of usability heuristics. They were written back in the 1990s and are still relevant, although you might want to adjust them to current technologies.

The list includes 10 heuristics:

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
• Help and documentation.^[1]