ux-heuristics

Walk through each screen checking against Nielsen's 10 heuristics and Krug's principles, logging every issue with a severity rating from 0 to 4. Use the audit template to capture issues per heuristic, then summarize top issues and quick wins by severity.

They are ten general principles: visibility of system status, match with the real world, user control and freedom, consistency, error prevention, recognition over recall, flexibility and efficiency, minimalist design, error recovery, and help documentation. Each heuristic includes good implementations and common violations.

Rate issues on a 0-4 scale weighing frequency, impact, and persistence: 0 is not a problem, 1 cosmetic, 2 minor, 3 major with significant task failure, and 4 catastrophic blocking task completion. Severity 3-4 issues should be fixed first.

Heuristic evaluation is an expert review against established principles, taking 1-2 hours and catching major violations before testing. User testing observes real behavior over 2-4 hours and reveals issues experts miss; run heuristics first, then validate with users.

Yes, it includes a complete WCAG 2.1 Level AA checklist covering perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust criteria. It lists contrast ratios, keyboard navigation requirements, screen reader testing with VoiceOver and NVDA, and common failure fixes.

Heuristics miss domain-specific confusion and real user behavior, so they should not replace user testing for critical flows. They also require judgment when heuristics conflict, such as simplicity versus flexibility, which the conflict-resolution framework addresses.