Sunday, January 27, 2013

Response Time and User Productivity

Research done in 1980s:

> 15 sec - This rules out conversational interaction
> 4 sec - generally too long for user converstional interaction requires short term memory.  Such delays prohibit problem solving activities and frustrate data entry
2 to 4 sec - inhibit operation demanding a high level of concentration (emotional committed to complete a task).  This delay is acceptable as a short interval after a task closure (for example, a wait for transaction to complete after data entry)
>2 sec - when user needs to remember information throughout several response, the delay must be short.  The more detailed the information to be remembered, the greater the response must be shorter than 2 sec.
subsecond - thought intensive work (e.g. writing a book), especially application with rich graphic. requires very short response time to maintain user attention and interest for a long period of time.
Deci-second - almost realtime such as moving mouse cursor across screen

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