Heuristic Evaluation: Writing the Report Pt.2 Created by- Shivangi Barwar Word Count: 1057 words Coursera’ Discussion Panel
Executive Summary: The report documents the heuristics evaluation of Coursera’s discussion panel; a forum for discussions amongst the people taking a particular course. This contains a detailed report of few of the many issues found.
Heuristics Used: 1. FEEDBACK: Visibility of system status 2. METAPHOR: Match between system and the real world 3. NAVIGATION: User control and freedom 4. CONSISTENCY: Consistency and standards 5. PREVENTION: Error prevention 6. MEMORY: Recognition rather than recall 7. EFFICIENCY: Flexibility and efficiency of use 8. DESIGN: Aesthetic and minimalist design 9. RECOVERY: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors 10. HELP: Help and documentation
FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Finding 1: The shortcut to change the line- Shift + Enter does not work. While pressing the enter key once results in a space too large. Severity: ¾ Heuristic Violated: #4 Consistency & Standards #7 Flexibility & Efficiency of use #8 Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The shortcut to change a line while not giving too much space vertically while typing has been ‘Shift + Enter’ has been consistent on a lot of platforms. This wasn’t the case with discussion panel forum. This is hence a violation of Nielsen’s fourth heuristic, “Consistency & Standards”, Nielsen’s seventh heuristic, “Flexibility & Efficiency of Use”, and Nielsen’s eighth heuristic “Aesthetic and Minimalist Design”. The absence of using “Shift + Enter” leaves the user confused and time is lost in understanding that is the shortcut not working or is there any way to reduce the line spacing which is absent. The absence of less line space while changing a line and not a paragraph, this also hampers the aesthetic appeal of the window and textual formatting.
Recommendation: The use of shift key and text without large text spacing could be done as in Gmail, word processors. Like below in the heuristic points line change has been done without much line spacing.
Finding 2: The shortcut to copy and paste do not work- Ctrl + C or Ctrl + V does not work. Severity: ¾ Heuristic Violated: #4 Consistency & Standards #7 Flexibility & Efficiency of use
The shortcut to copy and paste a concern does not work. This is hence a violation of Nielsen’s fourth heuristic, “Consistency & Standards” & Nielsen’s seventh heuristic, “Flexibility & Efficiency of Use”. The absence of using copy and paste leaves the user with typing his/her problem again which is a possibility that a doubt might come into your mid while you are outside and one just types in phone memo and hence no copy paste would result into typing the text again.
Recommendation: Enabling copy and paste options and shortcuts for both title and body text.
Finding 3: The reply on forum or a new discussion created isn't saved in the draft. If the browser shuts down the content typed couldn't be retrieved. Severity: ¾ Heuristic Violated: #3 User control and Freedom #4 Consistency & Standards The reply on forum or a new discussion created isn't saved in the draft. If the browser shuts down the content typed couldn't be retrieved. It has a potential to waste a lot of time. This is hence a violation of Nielsen’s fourth heuristic, “Consistency & Standards”, and Nielsen’s third heuristic “User control and Freedom”.
Recommendation: Adding a system to save drafts for at least a definite period of time.
Finding 4: The error if title or body is left blank. "Error: Longer Title" How much longer the title should be? Where are proper guidelines? Severity: 2/4 Heuristic Violated: #5 Error Prevention It states: "Error: Longer Title" The title which is necessary option gives a vague description of error when left blank. While it should state just as passwords that how much long the title should be. It’s maximum and minimum character limit. This violates the Nielsen’s fifth heuristic, “Error Prevention”.
Recommendation: The total time and remaining time for a video should be displayed as shown in the image below.
Finding 5: While the new thread window is open and if by mistake you click on the grey area. The thread window closes without concluding what happened and Is left to assumption that progress is lost. (whatever was typed is lost) But in reality, it gets saved. Severity: 2/4 Heuristic Violated: #1 Visibility of System Status #3 User control and Freedom #4 Consistency & Standards The reply on forum or a new discussion created isn't saved in the draft. If the browser shuts down the content typed couldn't be retrieved. Though it is saved it gives a minor attack if it is lost or not as there is no message that shows that it is saved as draft. This is hence a violation of Nielsen’s fourth heuristic, “Consistency & Standards”, Nielsen’s first heuristic, “Visibility of System Status”, and Nielsen’s third heuristic “User control and Freedom”. Below is a representation of the grey area which accidentally is clicked. Many a places where the draft is saved, message pops up hence a consistency & visibility is violated.
Recommendation: Adding a system message that the draft is saved. Something like the one below saying that the message has been saved.
Finding 6: When creating a new thread, it took image 12 seconds to upload and the entire thread window greyed out as not responding without showing that if it is uploading or not responding. Severity: 2/4 Heuristic Violated: #1 Visibility of system status
When creating a new thread, it took image 12 seconds to upload and the entire thread window greyed out as not responding without showing that if it is uploading or not responding. This is a violation of Nielsen’s first heuristic, “Visibility of System Status”. There is not feedback from the system about the status of the image if uploading or not. The body text area gets greyed out. The feedback is not enough
Recommendation: The total percentage and remaining time for the upload should be displayed. For example:
Finding 7: If there is an image on a reply, it can't be clicked upon or zoomed to see the image clearly. Severity: 1/4 Heuristic Violated: #3 User Control & Freedom
If there is an image reply to a thread the image couldn’t be zoomed and hence stands unclear. This is a violation of Nielsen’s third heuristic, “User Control & Freedom”. The users click on the image repeatedly to see what’s there and can’t complete their function.
Recommendation: A zoom control option when clicked on the image to be available.