Response time

[Craig Mulder]

>Does anyone know of studies (formal or informal) on how long users of
>networked computer systems are willing to wait for a document >page/image
>to be displayed?



Patrick Lynch of Yale makes the following statement in his Web Style
Manual,  http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/StyleManual_Top.HTML:


System Responsiveness


As WWW systems evolve from informal novelties to widespread organizational,
educational and commercial use the expectations for system performance will
increase. For an large organization using a local WWW system as a
management information tool the aggregate effect of the long delays caused
by inappropriate use of over-large graphics or other inefficiencies in key
menu areas may cripple the cost-effectiveness of the system. This is
especially true when many users are accessing the system at data rates much
less than Ethernet (10Mbits/sec), and where remote users using modems are a
key client group. Most studies on user response to computing system delays
suggest that waiting times longer than about 20 seconds are intolerable in
routine, repetitive computing tasks (Horton, 1990; Schneiderman, 1992). It
seems unlikely that users will be any more tolerant of WWW systems than
they are of any other networked service or computing task.


Horton, W. K. 1994. Designing and writing online documentation, 2nd Edition
New York: Wiley.

Schneiderman, B. 1992. Designing the user interface. 2nd Ed. Reading,
Mass.: AddisonÐWesley.




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