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>It feels like lying to the user to me I think it's fair to say that in general, users want to be lied to. That's why UX patterns like screenshots of suspended
by LordDragonfang 8y ago
>It feels like lying to the user to me
I think it's fair to say that in general, users want to be lied to. That's why UX patterns like screenshots of suspended apps being displayed while the app actually loads became standard. The appearance of speed is effectively as valuable as actual speed, just like the appearance of polish is valuable regardless of the cruft that lies beneath it.
- FullyFunctional 8y agoLying has nothing to do with it. Users don't _care_ about the details of what the system is doing and it's just cognitive noise, distracting from the task at hand. The suspended app screenshot is way more that appearance. We all need a moment to remember to context of what we were doing. Showing us a screenshot of the suspended state enables us to use the loading time productively so that we are immediately ready to interact once it's up.
- Dylan16807 8y agoThe task at hand is waiting. People love to be distracted from waiting without any evidence of progress. Isn't that why they put speakers into so many dial-up modems?
- FullyFunctional 8y agoI'd assume they the speaker was for diagnosis, eg. if you could hear an "Ahoy?" then you should probably start over.
- ansible 8y agoSpeaking as a user of dial up modems in the past, no. The speaker was vital to inform the user as to what was happening. If the phone line was in user, if there was a dialing problem, if you called the wrong number, etc. And it also gave you an indication of the connection speed and line quality.
- pythonaut_16 8y agoAll (graphical) user interfaces are a lie. The only real question is whether they're lying to benefit the user or not.