Project 6
Improving HashTrace Usability Through Heuristic Evaluation
Bringing a Hedera wallet, token & NFT analytics tool to launch-ready standard - before opening it to real users.
The problem in numbers
- No structured usability inspection had ever been conducted
- 4 text/background colour pairs failed WCAG AA contrast in light mode
- Onboarding, search, errors & accessibility never audited together
Key findings
- 3 buttons at the top of the page all triggered the same actions.
- Light/dark toggle didn't match the pattern used on comparable sites.
- Long data tables showed every row at once, raising cognitive load.
- Error states failed silently - no explanation on rate-limits.
- Light-theme text fell below AA contrast in 4 key areas.
What we learned
Redundant controls and inconsistent patterns cost users more confidence than any single bug. Matching familiar conventions, reducing what's on screen at once, and being honest when something goes wrong mattered more than any one fix in isolation.
How it informed the redesign
- Collapsed 3 duplicate buttons into a single clear action
- Rebuilt the theme toggle to match conventions used elsewhere
- Capped rows per page in long tables to ease scanning
- Rewrote error states in plain language with one-click retry
- Fixed all failing contrast pairs to meet AA in both themes.
Recommendations
- Remove deplicate controls - one clear action beats three identical ones
- Match interaction patterns users already know from comparable products
- Fix contrast failures across both themes to meet WCAG 2.1 AA
- Add onboarding and recognition aids (autocomplete, recently searched
- Support keyboard operability and reduced motion
DOCUMENTING THE FIX
Heuristic evaluation complements - but doesn't replace - testing with real users. To document every change and its reasoning, I produced a structured Heuristic Evaluation & UX Change Log mapping all 10 Nielsen heuristics plus a full WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility pass to the concre fixes shipped.
Project ongoing - 2 weeks to date - Heuristic evaluation phase complete - user research phase next.