How Throbber Components Affect Users’ Perception of Waiting Time
Hiroto Oshima, Takanori Komatsu, Seiji Yamada · 2020
Although the processing speed of computers is fast enough, users still have to wait for computers to complete tasks or respond. To cope with this, several types of visual information have been proposed as methods of presenting the current processing conditions of a computer to users when they are waiting. In this study, we focused on a throbber as an example of such visual information. A throbber is an animated graphical control element used to show that a computer program is performing an action in the background. We investigated how the components of throbbers (e.g., presented durations, rotational velocities, and size) affected users’ perception of waiting time. As a result, we observed that the participants felt that throbbers with a slower rotational velocity had a shorter duration regardless of size when the presented duration was rather short, like 5 seconds.