feedback

Below roughly 400 milliseconds of system response, people stop waiting on the machine and productivity rises sharply.

LAW·006Law · Performance

The interface should always tell the user what is going on, through timely and appropriate feedback.

HEUR·001Heuristic · Nielsen heuristics

Focused attention makes people miss things in plain sight, including changes to the interface they are using.

PSY·004Psychology · Attention

Animation should explain a change, and anything that does not explain something is delay.

FND·052UI foundation · Form and depth

What to show while waiting, chosen by how long the wait is and whether its length is known.

PAT·011Pattern · Content states

Apply the change immediately and reconcile with the server afterwards, so the interface never waits on the network.

PAT·013Pattern · Content states

An immediate on or off setting, which must actually take effect immediately.

CMP·007Component · Forms

A brief confirmation that disappears, which makes it unsuitable for anything the user must act on.

CMP·014Component · Feedback

A persistent message tied to a context, which is where anything requiring action belongs.

CMP·015Component · Feedback

Communicating how far through something the user is, which requires honesty about what you can measure.

CMP·026Component · Feedback

Say what is happening, how long it will take if you know, and whether it is safe to leave.

WRT·011UX writing · UX writing

Telling assistive technology that something changed, when focus did not move to say so.

A11Y·009Accessibility · Robust

Structured feedback against stated objectives, which is a different activity from a decision meeting.

FLOW·001Workflow · Practice

A session structure that produces useful feedback instead of opinions, with the framing written in advance.

TPL·012Template · Practice