Re:UI Web Design 5 Rules of Thumb
by HellsMaddy on Friday December 23, 2022 @02:14PM
(#34109566)
You’re thinking way too much like an engineer. Humans aren’t robots. Your solution would work great for a JSON payload, but not well for humans at all.
Your solution adds complexity to the page content with very little, if any, payoff. It requires the user to be aware of the precise time, to be aware of whether a very small region of the page has changed ever so slightly, and does not provide any additional value beyond acting as a poor proxy for whether the user’s attempt to refresh did anything.
A short loading animation is easily visible to the user (we’re great at seeing motion), it’s immediately obvious what it means, and it vanishes as soon as it’s no longer relevant. It communicates exactly the necessary information, no more, no less.
Your solution adds complexity to the page content with very little, if any, payoff. It requires the user to be aware of the precise time, to be aware of whether a very small region of the page has changed ever so slightly, and does not provide any additional value beyond acting as a poor proxy for whether the user’s attempt to refresh did anything.
A short loading animation is easily visible to the user (we’re great at seeing motion), it’s immediately obvious what it means, and it vanishes as soon as it’s no longer relevant. It communicates exactly the necessary information, no more, no less.