Re:Ask HN: How effective are "share this" buttons?
by anamax on Sunday January 25, 2009 @09:02PM
(#449884)
> cognitive load required to complete an action or task in a human computer interface is directly (probably linearly) proportional to the number of clicks and keystrokes required to complete that action or task
The big question isn't cognitive load but "will the user complete the sequence" rates.
For that, I doubt that the drop-off is linear. I suspect success falls off exponentially in the number of clicks and/or mouse moves. That is, each time I have have to move my mouse or click, there's a non-zero chance that I'll give up.
I'd guess that clicks have a higher "forget it" ratio because clicks typically bring up new screens.
The big question isn't cognitive load but "will the user complete the sequence" rates.
For that, I doubt that the drop-off is linear. I suspect success falls off exponentially in the number of clicks and/or mouse moves. That is, each time I have have to move my mouse or click, there's a non-zero chance that I'll give up.
I'd guess that clicks have a higher "forget it" ratio because clicks typically bring up new screens.