6.831 | Spring 2011 | Graduate

User Interface Design and Implementation

In-Class Activities

Heuristic Evaluation

The purpose of this activity is to practice doing heuristic evaluation—in this case, an e-commerce web site. You will need a web browser for this activity.

The web site you will evaluate is blowoff.com. Explore at least three parts of the site:

  1. Start by evaluating the home page;
  2. Then evaluate the page for one product, such as BlowOff Duster;
  3. Finally, try to buy the product and evaluate the checkout page.

Record the usability problems you find. Justify every observation by naming one or more usability heuristics (design principles) that it violates. Assign a severity rating to each problem (cosmetic, minor, major, or catastrophic).

Include at least one positive usability comment, again justifying it by naming one or more heuristics.

Course Info

Instructor
As Taught In
Spring 2011
Level