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Several published sets of usability heuristics were compared with a database of existing usability problems drawn from a variety of projects in order to determine what heuristics best explain actual usability problems. Based on afactor analysis of the explanations as well as an analysis of the heuristics providing the broadest explanatory coverage of the problems, a new set of nine heuristics were derived: visibility of system status, match between system and the real world, user control and freedom, consistency and standards, error prevention, recognition rather than recall, flexibility and efficiency of use, aesthetic and minimalist design, and helping users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors.