Quelle: (Newman, Lamming 95).
Example:
Heuristic evaluation of an online hardware-store
catalogue
The use of Heuristic Evaluation can be appreciated from a brief
example of evaluating a design for an online catalogue for use
by customers of a hardware store. Its purpose is to allow
customers to place orders so that they can pay for them and
collect them from a pick-up counter. A typical display layout is
shown in Figure1.
Figure 1 Online hardware catalogue user interface.
The catalogue is laid out as a two-level menu, the first level
(shown in the top left of the screen) allowing the user to
choose between broad categories of hardware, the second level
(below the first) allowing access to individual types of
product. To select a menu item, the user points to it with his
or her finger.
Details of the products available are shown in the main window.
Each item has an order target that can be selected by pointing.
The scroll bar on the right can be used for moving up and down
the list of available products.
When the user points to the order target, an entry is made in
the bottom panel. The number ordered is set initially to 1, but
may be altered with the less and more targets. As items are
added, and the numbers ordered are changed, the total value of
the purchase is shown at the bottom of the 'Value' column. The
cancel target can be used to cancel the order for an item.
Here are some of comments that evaluators might make about this
design, and the related heuristics:
-
Evaluator A: The menus aren't labelled, so it's hard for the
user to know their purpose, or to understand the hierarchy
(Simple and natural dialogue).
-
Evaluator C: I think the user will tend to confuse the menus,
they look too much alike (Simple and natural dialogue).
-
Evaluator A: Why display the menus all the time anyway? While
the user is searching the product descriptions, the menus aren't
needed (Simple and natural dialogue).
-
Evaluator B: It would be good to have pictures of the products,
that's what conventional catalogues have (Speak the user's
language).
-
Evaluator D: The panel at the bottom is too small - people will
order more than just two different items. They won't be able to
remember all the items they've ordered (Minimize user memory
load).
-
Evaluator B: The targets for ordering items are different from
the menu targets, which are different again from the scroll-bar
target. Shouldn't they be more alike? (Be consistent).
-
Evaluator C: How does the customer confirm the order? There's no
button for doing this.
-
Evaluator A: What if the user accidentally cancels an order?
They're going to have to go back to the catalogue to order it
again (Prevent errors).
-
Evaluator B: It's more normal to show price and value alongside
each other, and to place the number ordered on the left (Speak
the user's language).
Exercise heuristics: