User Control and Freedom
Users often perform actions by mistake. They need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted action without having to go through an extended process.
This heuristic is about giving users an escape hatch when they do something by accident.
For example:
- A user ends up on the wrong page — they should be able to go back.
- A user clicks the wrong button — they should be able to cancel.
- A user deletes something by mistake — they should be able to undo it.
It sounds obvious — but a surprising number of apps skip this. No undo. No way to cancel. No escape from a modal. And suddenly the user’s stuck.
Some examples of applying user control and freedom
Undo and redo options
Any application that assumes you are editing something uses these options extensively. Particularly, the undo option comes in handy when you make a mistake. These options range from text editors to complex motion design apps. Probably most users are familiar with the Ctrl+Z shortcut.
The cancel button
The cancel button in a modal dialog or form that lets users abort their current action without making changes is another example of providing users freedom.
Modal dialogs might need more ways to close them:
- clicking on the backdrop overlay,
- pushing the esc button on the keyboard,
- clicking the cancel button inside the dialog itself.
Preview a post before publishing
Before publishing a post on social media, users can preview it to ensure it looks correct and make changes if needed. Such services as Typefully, which I use a lot, allow me to preview posts in each social network almost exactly how they are going to look.
Breadcrumbs
For example, an e-commerce site shows a breadcrumb trail so users can easily navigate back to previous pages. I provided an example from X (in the visibility of a system status lesson), where it's almost impossible to know where you are and what the page structure is.
Version History
Such services as Google Drive allow users to view and restore previous versions of a document, which may be quite handy.
Update cart
The ability for users to add, remove, or adjust the quantities of items in their shopping cart is a perfect example of the heuristic.
Autosave drafts
A lot of services, such as Kit, Typefully, Gmail, and others, provide autosaving drafts so users don't lose progress if they accidentally close the page they were working on.
Grace period
Many SaaS services offer a grace period if the payment does not go through instead of immediately stopping service provision.
Snooze notifications
Messaging apps like Slack allow users to snooze notifications for a specific time period, giving them control over interruptions.
Customize keyboard shortcuts
Design tools like Figma or Adobe Photoshop let users set or customize keyboard shortcuts to suit their workflow preferences.
Changing language, region, and currency
E-commerce websites like Amazon let users switch the language or region settings on the fly without logging out or restarting the session.