Universal Principles of UX

13

Provide feedback quickly or else.

It’s not often that UX gets glamorized in fiction, but in an episode of the television show Halt and Catch Fire (which is about the personal computer revolution of the 1980s), an urban legend was born: “You ask your computer to do something and hit the enter key; if it answers you back in less than 400 milliseconds, just under half a second, then you will stay glued to that machine for hours. Your eyes may glaze over, but your productivity will soar. You’ll be transfixed, mesmerized. Even a slight deviation back to half a second response time will allow your attention to stray. You’ll get up and do the dishes, pick up the remote, and watch the game. But under 400 milliseconds, ah, that’s the sweet spot.” ...