Toward the completion of the interaction design specialization, I have done several assignments. In one of the courses, I had to perform heuristic evaluations. My task was to compare the process of buying a round-trip ticket on two websites or apps. I started from the homepage and worked my way through the task while writing down the usability problems.

In my first assignment, I evaluated southwest.com, a website that helps you find flight tickets, rent a car, book a hotel room, etc.

As my second assignment, I evaluated thetrainline.com, a website that helps you find train tickets, coach tickets, etc.

Note: Since I am more computer savvy than ordinary people, I would naturally avoid errors that other peoples run into while interacting with websites and applications. To address this, I actively stress-test applications by omitting a particular field, entering incorrect data, or clicking on a different link than I would normally.

As my first assignment, I am going to evaluate www.southwest.com, which is a website that helps you find flight tickets, rent a car, and book a hotel room, …

The task that I am trying to accomplish here is to purchase a round-trip ticket from New Orleans to Chicago. Sometimes I had to change the task slightly in order to evaluate how the website will handle different requests.

I have identified 6 usability problems on this website, which we will go through later in this article.

Notice: I used Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics from The Nielsen Norman Group. The concept is the same thing, but the terms might differ from those used in the course. Make sure to check their website www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics

Heuristic Name: User control and freedom
Severity Number: 3 (major usability problem)
Description:
While trying to purchase a flight ticket, most websites cover a wide range of options for passengers, which include adults (18-64), Seniors (+65), Youth (12-17), and children (2-11), Sean Infant or Lap Infant. Most airlines offer different options for different age groups. For example, infants' tickets usually come with a discount, and their food options are different from adults. As you can see, there is no such option on the Southwest Airlines website. It doesn't give the user the freedom to choose different passengers based on their age group.

Heuristic Name: Help and documentation
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description:
As you try to purchase a ticket, you can see that there are two radio buttons and one of them is active by default. "Dollars" and "Points" So, what exactly are "Points." It is clear that this is a payment method (considering the fact that you have to choose between two options). But the question is how you can earn points. Do you have to purchase a ticket in order to earn it, or you can simply earn points by referring friends to use their website? Having a small textbox containing a description would stop the user from getting confused while using the website.

Heuristic Name: Match between system and the real world
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: Using a phrase like "Enroll Now" is not a very wise choice of word. Enrollment usually means registering for university or any other educational institution. In contrast, sign-up is less formal and more user-friendly.

Heuristic Name: Match between system and the real world
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: When you encounter an error message, it precisely indicates the problem and addresses the solution on how to fix it. So far, the system helps the user to recognize and diagnose errors and recover from them. But including error codes does not help the user, and it is part of the irrelevant information. Even googling it will not give the user any information.

Heuristic Name: User control and freedom
Severity Number: 3 (major usability problem)
Description: The next step is to choose the departure time. As you can see, there are limited options for sorting and filtering. Improving sort in order to enable the user to order flights based on factors like the highest price, lowest price, shortest duration, and longest duration, … will create a better user experience eventually. In addition, we can improve the filter to enable the user to choose the number of stops, departure time, arrival time, etc.

Heuristic Name: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: As you proceed, the next stage is to fill out the personal information form (you probably won't need to do so if you already logged into the website since the fields would be filled already). I have tried to enter the wrong data for both year and day. As you can see in both scenarios, all three boxes are highlighted, which indicates that the input is not correct, while there is only one field with the wrong data. "Enter valid date of birth" doesn't precisely tell the user what causes the problem and which parts need to be fixed.

As my second assignment, I am going to evaluate www.thetrainline.com, which is a website that helps you find train tickets and coaches' tickets, …

The task that I am trying to accomplish here is to purchase a round-trip ticket from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord. Sometimes I had to change the task slightly in order to evaluate how the website will handle different requests.

I have identified 5 usability problems on this website, which we will go through later in this article.

Notice: I used Jakob Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics from The Nielsen Norman Group. The concept is the same thing, but the terms might differ from those used in the course. Make sure to check their website www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics

Heuristic Name: User control and freedom
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: When you try to pick a date, a calendar will pop up that allows you to choose your departure date and return date. At this point, highlighting days between departure and return date would create a better user experience. Counting days is also an excellent way to help the user understand how many days are selected.

Heuristic Name: Match between system and the real world
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: When you hover over the "Leaving at" box, you can see the mouse cursor state change from normal (default) to text. This will convey the message that the user needs to provide some sort of textual input. While in fact, the user needs to choose from the drop-down menu.

Heuristic Name: Aesthetic and minimalist design
Severity Number: 1 (cosmetic problem)
Description: When you want to enter the number of passengers, you have to click on three options available (Youth, Adult, Senior) individually and create an entry for each passenger. While in most cases, there is usually an add and remove button to help you choose the number of passengers from different age groups.

Heuristic Name: Help and documentation
Severity Number: 2 (minor usability problem)
Description: While trying to enter the number of passengers, you can see that there is a button under the name "Add SNCF voucher." Most users may not have any idea of what it is and where they can purchase it. So, it would be better to provide a short description of this item.

Heuristic Name: Visibility of system status
Severity Number: 3 (major usability problem)
Description: While the users are trying to find a ticket that best suits their interests, it will be great to let them know where they are standing based on the user journey map. We can use shapes to illustrate different steps (from searching to checkout and payment) and let the user know which stage they are currently engaged in and what is before and after this step.