[thelist] Website Loading Screen

Andrew Maynes andrew at uk-webdeveloper.co.uk
Wed Apr 17 08:44:01 CDT 2002


Hi Martin

I was aware of the research from a psychological perspective, I didn't know the
rearch extended to web site waiting patterns.

In relation to this request I was curious for one reason.  It appeared from the
question that someone actually wanted someone to wait for something to load!  Or
put another way, lets create something that will take some time to load!

I did have a site that needed to say 'we are loading this for you as quickly as
we can because it is fairly weighty.'

The site had a rotating image display which was just far too slow for the
average user, which with hindsight I should have had a loading... message.
Instead I had nothing which is similar to how public transport operates... i
know buses are runnig in the direction oppoisite to the way I want to go but
will one come my way pretty soon?

Andrew

-----Original Message-----
From: thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org
[mailto:thelist-admin at lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of
martin.p.burns at uk.pwcglobal.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 02:20
To: thelist at lists.evolt.org
Subject: RE: [thelist] Website Loading Screen



Memo from Martin P Burns of PricewaterhouseCoopers

-------------------- Start of message text --------------------

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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