Responsiveness
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Responsiveness is a principle from interaction design / HCI, saying that a system's response to user input should happen with no perceivable delay. Responsiveness is considered a vital requirement for any user interface, and the lack of it will usually result in frustration.
Other operations that take longer time should be kept in the background, giving highest priority to the user-relevant operations, such as typing, or onscreen buttons.
If letting the user wait is inevitable, the system must at least show a progress bar to indicate it's busy, or something to make sure the user's command has been received and understood.
Examples:
- If a web browser is loading multiple pages in the background, this may take longer time. However, the user should still be able to interact with the active page, and the rest of the browser's UI, without delay.
- If a user initiates the start of an application, a little splash box may indicate that starting the application is in progress. Without this visual indication, the user may be tempted to click on the icon again and again, with the undesired effect that multiple instances of the application will start.
[edit] See also
Responsivity, a related concept in electrical engineering.
Reactivity, a not-so-related concept in chemistry.
[edit] External links
[1] Chapter 9. Constructing A Responsive User Interface. by David Sweet
