Do not. Ever. Under any circumstances. Leave the user hanging.
Self-evidently, it's frustrating when you're using an app - whether signing in, actively navigating its user interface, or signing out - and the dang thingamajig doesn't make clear whether it's loading, much less progressing. And yet, even seasoned veterans occasionally commit this unnecessary blunder.
When you're hitting up concert dates on a search engine, a static screen is a nuisance. When you're adding items to a shopping cart, lacking feedback aggravates. And when you're wiring money to your best friend for last night's dinner and can't tell if the transaction is stuck or pending, well...
You might as well file that under "The 7 Deadly Sins of UI Design."
I'm engaging in hyperbole, obviously. But at the same time, I'm not being the slightest bit facetious.
Nobody - and I mean absolutely nobody - in the pursuit of a goal enjoys the sensation that things are moving so slowly that they're indistinguishable from gridlock.
Luckily, there are several handy solutions.
Depending on the specific purpose of the app, the expected behavior of the user, and the individual approach of the UI designer, the solution may vary widely.
One designer may - as in the image featured - utilize a spinning wheel that revolves in a circular motion. Another designer may incorporate a loading bar that bounces right to left. Yet another designer may simply let an ensemble of colors dance across the screen to give the appearance that things are moving forward, or - at the very least - trying to.
In the end, however, the takeaway for every serious designer should be the same: Avoiding the 'sisyphic condition' at all cost.
A LARGE chunk of your user base will notice the difference. A SMALL portion of them will relish it. Absolutely NONE of your users will ever thank you for it. And yet, even that's perfectly okay once you realize you've accomplished one of the most basic - yet strangely overlooked - things with respect to developing an app from the user's point of view:
Making it essentially tolerable - and by God does that count for something.
Self-evidently, it's frustrating when you're using an app - whether signing in, actively navigating its user interface, or signing out - and the dang thingamajig doesn't make clear whether it's loading, much less progressing. And yet, even seasoned veterans occasionally commit this unnecessary blunder.
When you're hitting up concert dates on a search engine, a static screen is a nuisance. When you're adding items to a shopping cart, lacking feedback aggravates. And when you're wiring money to your best friend for last night's dinner and can't tell if the transaction is stuck or pending, well...
You might as well file that under "The 7 Deadly Sins of UI Design."
I'm engaging in hyperbole, obviously. But at the same time, I'm not being the slightest bit facetious.
Nobody - and I mean absolutely nobody - in the pursuit of a goal enjoys the sensation that things are moving so slowly that they're indistinguishable from gridlock.
Luckily, there are several handy solutions.
Depending on the specific purpose of the app, the expected behavior of the user, and the individual approach of the UI designer, the solution may vary widely.
One designer may - as in the image featured - utilize a spinning wheel that revolves in a circular motion. Another designer may incorporate a loading bar that bounces right to left. Yet another designer may simply let an ensemble of colors dance across the screen to give the appearance that things are moving forward, or - at the very least - trying to.
In the end, however, the takeaway for every serious designer should be the same: Avoiding the 'sisyphic condition' at all cost.
A LARGE chunk of your user base will notice the difference. A SMALL portion of them will relish it. Absolutely NONE of your users will ever thank you for it. And yet, even that's perfectly okay once you realize you've accomplished one of the most basic - yet strangely overlooked - things with respect to developing an app from the user's point of view:
Making it essentially tolerable - and by God does that count for something.