[thelist] Website Loading Screen

[martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com]

Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

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Hi Andrew

There's quite a bit of research to suggest that a user's impatience with a
wait is not based on the amount of time spent waiting, but the amount of
time *perceived* to be spent waiting for something to happen.

If you can do one of:
1) give the impression of things loading (eg not enclosing everything in
one table which renders at the end, but in separate tables which render as
they are downloaded, have interlaced/progressive images etc)
2) Convince the user that things are happening that aren't all together
obvious (eg loading screens, progress bars etc)
3) Distract the user (Caldera Open Linux has a Tetris game you can play
while the machine installs the OS, and that's why lift lobbies tend to have
windows or mirrors)
the time the user spends wondering if they're ever going to see your page
is much reduced, and so is the user's impatience... even if the total time
before it loads doesn't change a bit.

Cheers
Martin



why would anyone want a screen that says loading or have I missed the
point, is
there some magical thing it does?  I thought no loading was the aim!



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