ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES of HEURISTIC EVALUATION

ADVANTAGES

Heuristic evaluations are easy to use, fast and as cheap as you want it

Since each observed usability problem is explained with reference to an

established usability principle, it is easy to generate fixes.

It is a good method for finding both major and minor problems in a user
interface.

Heuristic evaluations can be employed early in the design life cycle to find
usability problems. This makes them considerably easier and cheaper to
fix then than if the problems were to be discovered in later phases of the
design or not at all.

Heuristic evaluations stand a better chance of actually being used in

practical design situations.

Heuristic evaluations play an important role in the design life cycle of a user
interface and if implemented properly can provide powerful results.
 DISADVANTAGES

It requires a certain level of knowledge and experience to apply the

heuristics effectively

Usability experts are sometimes hard and expensive to come by, especially
if they need to have domain expertise.

If the evaluators are not part of the development team, they may not be
aware of technical limitations on the design or why certain design decisions
were made

Differences between development team and evaluators may arise, which

can impede communication and correction of the problems identified
during the evaluation.

Heuristic evaluations are loosely structured and therefore run the risk of
finding one-time, low-priority problems. These problems may not be
important to correct.

Heuristic evaluations does not allow a way to assess the quality of redesigns.