4 ms·

As a user, I often do want a list to start from a single letter. In a browser address bar, it could start showing items Amazon, Apple, etc.

Tade0 1y ago
That is fine. Do you want it to flicker between keystrokes when you're still typing?
- extra88 1y ago
  "Flicker" can mean a lot of things, I generally don't have a problem with the list changing while I type.
  - maxbond 1y ago
    Consider some people (the type to enable prefers-reduced-motion) find it very difficult to use a UI that is updating too frequently.
- account42 1y ago
  Yes. Unless you are pecking at your keyboard your eyes are free to look at the results on the screen and stop typing once you get the result you want. The only thing that's needed is for the results to be stable, i.e. if the top result for "abc" also matches "abcd" then it should also be the top result for "abcd". Unfortunately many search/autocomplete implementations fail at this but that's still a problem even with "debouncing".
  - prmph 1y ago
    Are you really able to scan all the results in a few milliseconds? Even the 10ms in TFA is too low. I personally wouldn't mind (or probably even notice) a delay of 100 ms.
    - account42 1y ago
      It doesn't matter how fast you can read the results, you benefit from instant results as long as you can read them faster than you can complete typing. Whatever delay you add before showing results doesn't get hidden by the display and user's reading latency, it adds to it.
      - maxbond 1y ago
        "Instant," in the context of a user interface, is not zero seconds. It's more like 50ms to 1000ms (depending on the type of information being processed). If you want your user interface to feel snappy and responsive - then you don't want to process things as fast as the computer can, you want to process them in a way that feels instantaneous. If you get caught up processing every keystroke, the interface will feel sluggish.

Tade0 1y ago

That is fine. Do you want it to flicker between keystrokes when you're still typing?

extra88 1y ago
"Flicker" can mean a lot of things, I generally don't have a problem with the list changing while I type.
- maxbond 1y ago
  Consider some people (the type to enable prefers-reduced-motion) find it very difficult to use a UI that is updating too frequently.
account42 1y ago
Yes. Unless you are pecking at your keyboard your eyes are free to look at the results on the screen and stop typing once you get the result you want. The only thing that's needed is for the results to be stable, i.e. if the top result for "abc" also matches "abcd" then it should also be the top result for "abcd". Unfortunately many search/autocomplete implementations fail at this but that's still a problem even with "debouncing".
- prmph 1y ago
  Are you really able to scan all the results in a few milliseconds? Even the 10ms in TFA is too low. I personally wouldn't mind (or probably even notice) a delay of 100 ms.
  - account42 1y ago
    It doesn't matter how fast you can read the results, you benefit from instant results as long as you can read them faster than you can complete typing. Whatever delay you add before showing results doesn't get hidden by the display and user's reading latency, it adds to it.
    - maxbond 1y ago
      "Instant," in the context of a user interface, is not zero seconds. It's more like 50ms to 1000ms (depending on the type of information being processed). If you want your user interface to feel snappy and responsive - then you don't want to process things as fast as the computer can, you want to process them in a way that feels instantaneous. If you get caught up processing every keystroke, the interface will feel sluggish.