Interaction frequency determines motion
Sources
- EmpiricalBaudisch et al. (2006)
Waiting for animation is most frustrating when users do not need an explanation, particularly for familiar actions.
“This can be cumbersome, especially in situations where users did not need an explanation.”Abstrak
- TheoryMiller (1968)
Acceptable response time depends on the purpose of the action.
“different human purposes and actions will have different acceptable or useful response times”Abstrak
Animated scrolling improved reading speed and reduced errors, even though scrolling is frequently repeated.
“animated scrolling significantly improves average task time, by up to 5.3% using 300 millisecond animations for reading documents”Abstrak
Priority
Supporting and challenging evidence makes the trade-off worth testing; highlight lag can be measured without subjective preference ratings.
Experiments
- 004Interaction frequency and motionCompleted
Findings
During rapid keyboard repetition, 150–300 ms highlight animations lagged behind the logical selection in 100% of sampled frames, averaging 1–1.6 rows behind, and kept moving for 82–200 ms after release. Without animation, the highlight remained accurate. Potential benefits for rare single actions, such as visual continuity, were not measured.