CSE 510 -- Lab #4
Due: April 25
Heuristic Evaluation
Purpose:
Experiment with heuristic evaluation, as described by Jakob Nielsen in his
online paper Heuristic
Evaluation.
Assignment:
This assignment should be done in groups of 2 or 3. Together, select a
system to evaluate, and design a scenario consisting of a a short task to
be performed. (As an example, see the sample scenario in
Lab #3.)
Then each student should separately evaluate the interface. Go through the
interface several times, and inspect the various interface elements (dialog
elements, menu selections, etc), and compare them with Nielsen's list of
heuristics. You can also note problems relative to other usability
heuristics of your own devising as well.
Combine the list of usability problems identified in the separate
evaluations into a master list.
Finally, each student should individually rate the severity of all the
problems in the master list.
Deliverables:
Hand in a description of your scenario, the combined list of usability
problems, and ratings of severity. Please also write a few paragraphs
reflecting on the process. What kinds of problems were discovered by only
one student, and what by several? How did the severity ratings compare?
Was this process useful, and would you use it in your course project? We
won't do a poster session for this homework, although I would like to have
some discussion in class of what you found.