4 ms·

Every time I do UI stuff, I tell my boss that timers are a code smell. They're either too long, and the user gets bored or confused, or they're too short and t

Every time I do UI stuff, I tell my boss that timers are a code smell. They're either too long, and the user gets bored or confused, or they're too short and the program bucks the user off and runs on without them. "Skip" buttons don't work. If you can have a Skip button, just make it a Next button and kill the timer.

aspyct 6y ago
I mostly agree with this. I've seen one valid and helpful usage of timers though: in Waze. Some things start automatically after some time, like navigation after selecting and address, or dismissing a notification. The time remaining is indicated on the corresponding button itself in a progress bar fashion.
- Xelbair 6y ago
  i would absolutely HATE if navigation started itself after i selected the address after some time. I'm forgetful when it comes to short term memory, and it would annoy me deeply.
  - squiggleblaz 6y ago
    It's surely better than Google's Maps approach. They make Maps crash while you're driving on the freeway, so you say "Okay Google, start directions home" and it says "Would you like me to start directions home? We know you're driving at bone crushing speeds on a road you've never been on in a country you're not entirely familiar with. Just look at your phone screen and find the button and crash into the side of the freeway and don't get home. It's not like you need to keep your attention on the road while driving; we are quite happy if you crash and die. But timers and explicit audio instructions are just such poor usability."
    - btashton 6y ago
      If you tell it to _navigate_ home it will actually pull up the directions and the go button will have a autostart timer so you don't touch anything. Ask for directions and you will have to start touching the screen.
graup 6y ago
Timers can be useful, for example ensuring a slight (500ms) delay when a user expects an interaction to be non-instant (like saving or transmitting data). I wrote about this case here: https://medium.com/@graycoding/detect-slow-and-fast-asynchronous-operations-with-javascript-fb58b32006f6 https://medium.com/@graycoding/detect-slow-and-fast-asynchro...
hyzyla 6y ago
It's not an axiom. We can see plenty of successful realizations of carousell pattern for touch screens. Most famous is Instagram stories
- azemetre 6y ago
  Are those carousels? I can’t easily go back to the beginning after watching a user stories. A carousel automatically does this.

aspyct 6y ago

I mostly agree with this. I've seen one valid and helpful usage of timers though: in Waze. Some things start automatically after some time, like navigation after selecting and address, or dismissing a notification. The time remaining is indicated on the corresponding button itself in a progress bar fashion.

Xelbair 6y ago
i would absolutely HATE if navigation started itself after i selected the address after some time. I'm forgetful when it comes to short term memory, and it would annoy me deeply.
- squiggleblaz 6y ago
  It's surely better than Google's Maps approach. They make Maps crash while you're driving on the freeway, so you say "Okay Google, start directions home" and it says "Would you like me to start directions home? We know you're driving at bone crushing speeds on a road you've never been on in a country you're not entirely familiar with. Just look at your phone screen and find the button and crash into the side of the freeway and don't get home. It's not like you need to keep your attention on the road while driving; we are quite happy if you crash and die. But timers and explicit audio instructions are just such poor usability."
  - btashton 6y ago
    If you tell it to _navigate_ home it will actually pull up the directions and the go button will have a autostart timer so you don't touch anything. Ask for directions and you will have to start touching the screen.

graup 6y ago

Timers can be useful, for example ensuring a slight (500ms) delay when a user expects an interaction to be non-instant (like saving or transmitting data). I wrote about this case here: https://medium.com/@graycoding/detect-slow-and-fast-asynchronous-operations-with-javascript-fb58b32006f6 https://medium.com/@graycoding/detect-slow-and-fast-asynchro...

hyzyla 6y ago

It's not an axiom. We can see plenty of successful realizations of carousell pattern for touch screens. Most famous is Instagram stories

azemetre 6y ago
Are those carousels? I can’t easily go back to the beginning after watching a user stories. A carousel automatically does this.