Excerpts from a JIRA article I wrote at work.
Make system status and feedback clear and visibleUse status mechanisms to keep users aware and informed via appropriate feedback, and within a reasonable timeframe. Status information should be up-to-date and easy to spot.
Present information with meaningful aids to interpretation
Use words, phrases and concepts familiar to users - don't use 'programmer speak'. Use everyday terms, or familiar frameworks.
Help users recognise, diagnose and recover from or resolve errors
Give users a "way out" when they make mistakes (e.g. cancel). Where Undo/Redo is not possible or viable, present users with solutions.
E.g. The supplier record could not be deleted because transactions have been made against it. <Deactivate Supplier Record> <Cancel>
Use clear, consistent language, and names/labels that are conceptually related to their functions
Standardise language across your platform. If 'Cancel' means 'Exit without implementing any changes' in one context, it should mean that in all contexts. Whenever possible, button labels should be specific, rather than generic. (e.g. 'Save & Exit' vs 'Okay').
Help users not to make mistakes
Present users with a confirmation before they commit to an action with serious and/or irrevocable consequences. In such cases, it's a good idea to place the Commit and Cancel buttons far apart to prevent users clicking the wrong buttons by mistake. If keyboard controls are in play, require the users to either click the (far apart) buttons, or to commit by pressing a specific key or key combination, rather than tab-Entering.
Display only the information a user needs to complete a discrete task at a given time
Don't make users remember information from one part of the dialogue to another, and don't pepper them with information irrelevant to the task at hand.
Make the right things invisible
Automate and/or hide tasks/functions users have no control over, but that the platform requires to work.
Group information consistently and meaningfully
Don't make users search and mix-n-match information from all over your page if what they're looking for falls into an identifiable group. (E.g. Address, Mobile, Fax..)
Reduce user workload & set meaningful defaults
Pre-populate standard fields whenever possible and/or helpful. Base defaults on choices that the majority of users would make. Default settings should make things easier on the standard user, not harder.
Notes:
This list was based on Jakob Nielsen's heuristics as published in Usability Engineering, Jill Gerhardt-Powals' work in Human Computer Interaction (paid link), and Bruce Tognazzini's First Principles of Interaction Design.