Re: web user & download time

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1 total messages Started by Gill, Kathy Tue, 04 May 1999 00:00

#181

Author: Gill, Kathy
Date: Tue, 04 May 1999 00:00

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> At 10:06 AM 5/3/99 +0100, Laurie Hathman wrote the following:
>
> >I am looking for statistics or other information about how long a web
> user will wait for a page to download before giving up and going somewhere
> else.
>
The answer is : It Depends.

AOL users seem to have infinite patience. People used to surfing with Lynx,
almost none. ;-)

The rule of thumb I use is the 'hold your breath' test .. will the page
download on a 28.8 modem in the length of time you can hold your breath.

That said -- the It Depends depends a LOT on how valuable the information is
perceived to be, how accessible said information is from other sites ...
lots of intangibles.

General consensus among designers is to minimize download time as much as
possible. This means, clean code, optimized graphics - and graphics used
ONLY to communicate something (not just cause they are pretty).

You might be interested in the CHI-WEB list -- computer human
interaction/web --
http://www.acm.org/sigchi/web/chi-web.html


And here are some usability links:

http://www.usableweb.com/
http://www.dotparagon.com/resources/HCI.html


Kathy

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