Re: How long should an onscreen message last?

[Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

--- Chris Knight <cknight -at- attcanada -dot- ca> wrote:
> 
> I've been a contract tech writer for 17 years, and worked with some
> of the best User Interface and Human Factors people, but I have a
> question that's never come up before: How long should an onscreen
> message last? I am pretty much the UI designer on this project, so
> *I* get to say.

Chris,

You gotta way for users to clear the message and start over? Something
like a reset button? That might help with the confusion if they know
they can reset to start and try again.

Otherwise, I agree with you that 1.5 seconds is a bit quick. I suspect
you're right about something at least five but probably not ten seconds
would be optimal. But I got no data to back that up.

=====
Tom Murrell
mailto:trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com
http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html Last Updated 05/26/2003
--Don't argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference. (Anonymous)--

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