36. Time is Relative

36. Time is Relative

1. People like progress

   • Provide progress indicators for users to know how much time something is going to take

2. The perception of time and your reaction to it are greatly influenced by predictability and expectations

   • Time changes/alters expectations and reactions toward things

3. If possible, make the amount of time it takes to do a task or bring up information consistent, so people can adjust their expectations accordingly

   • A timeline for tasks or steps in a process, if possible, can be used to show the end user the amount of time it'll take and they will adjust their expectations accordingly

4. To make a process seem shorter, break it up into steps and have people think less

   • Mental processing makes something seem to take a long time